Dear members,

As you know, formal talks on a new public sector pay agreement have been underway for just over three weeks now. The talks adjourned last night, ending inconclusively just days before the current agreement expires on 31st December.

I am sure members will share our disappointment that an agreement has not been reached ahead of Christmas, especially as so many public sector workers will be working during the festive period, continuing to serve the people of Ireland.

It's now unlikely talks will resume before Christmas, although we did express our willingness to meet over the next few days in order to conclude a deal.

However, it remained clear last night that the Government can't or won't conclude a deal in that time, and has indicated it would prefer to resume negotiations in the second week of January.

There has been no discussion so far in relation to pay. Given it was the Minister's stated preference to achieve a multi-annual deal, it is disappointing and surprising that the Government side was not ready to discuss proposals on pay.

Nevertheless, we felt that if there had been a genuine push this week, it may have been possible to continue to close out the remaining issues and move onto the pay element of negotiations.

We made it very clear that we remain available for discussions between the Christmas and New Year period, so it is very disappointing to have got to this stage with relatively little progress, and a tangible lack of enthusiasm on the part of Government to secure a successor to the current Building Momentum deal, which expires in 11 days time.

This leaves us facing an unprecedented situation as there will be no public sector pay agreement in place on 1st January.  

In this context, this morning the 19 affiliate trade unions of the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions met and agreed that we will meet again on 11th January to sign-off on the wording of ballots for industrial action, if proposals on a new public sector agreement aren't concluded in the meantime.

We will continue to update you as the situation progresses. For now, let me wish a happy and peaceful Christmas, whether you will be at home or at work. Thank you for your continued support throughout 2023.

Yours,

Kevin Callinan
General Secretary

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