Four months on
by Bernard Harbor

Irish Rail unions have done a pay deal worth a front-loaded 10.5% over five years, plus 4.5% linked to productivity gains and a grand in vouchers. Meanwhile, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar says pay restoration (for high-earning public servants) doesn't constitute a pay rise.

 

Our population grew by 7.6% over the last six years and now stands at over 5.1 million, but the ESRI says Irish households face their biggest drop in living standards since the 2008 financial crash.

 

Elsewhere, the Irish Times has an interview with recently-retired Labour Court deputy chair Caroline Jenkinson, An Post is back in profit, and Heathrow check-in staff have backed industrial action.

 

And in political news, that charlatan Johnson got two bloody noses yesterday, courtesy of the voters of Wakefield, Tiverton and Honiton.

 

Outgoing TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady put in another flawless performance a couple of weeks ago, this time on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Well worth a listen - for the music at least as much as the politics - when you've half an hour on your hands. Her top pick was the Zentastic Double Barrel by Dave and Ansel Collins. Classic. 

 

Keep smiling.

 

Bernard.

LikeLike (2)