Irish pay steering group meets both sides after 7.75% offer rejected

The three-person group is chaired by Workplace Relations Commission chairman Kevin Foley. Its members are Department of the Environment secretary general Oonagh Buckley and Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary Owen Reidy, the Irish Times reported. The group held separate engagements with the two sides on Tuesday and meetings were set to continue on Wednesday.

The meetings followed the rejection last Friday of a Government pay offer worth 7.75% over 2½ years. The offer included a 1.75% increase from 1 November, then 1% in April, August and November of next year, and two further 1% increases in May and October 2028. A further 1% was set aside for local bargaining, a mechanism for issues that apply in some areas but not others. The listed increases sum to 6.75%, with the local bargaining element bringing the total to 7.75%. The total cost was put at €3.5bn.

Unions said the offer was not credible and questioned the inflation projections used to justify it. The union side believes it would be unlikely to match inflation and could leave members facing a pay cut in real terms, the Irish Times reported. They also expected 2% for local bargaining rather than the 1% provided. Another issue was the absence of a mechanism to raise the lowest pay, which matters for Fórsa and SIPTU, both with large numbers of public servants earning barely more than the minimum wage.

Strike set for 12 November

The Irish Examiner reported that the ICTU Public Services Committee agreed on Monday to prepare a 24-hour work stoppage on Thursday 12 November. Unions moved the date from 11 November to coincide with the European Political Community meeting in Dublin, the biggest event of Ireland's EU Presidency. Up to 300,000 public sector workers could take part, bringing schools, hospitals and local authorities to a standstill.

Public expenditure minister Jack Chambers called the decision to schedule a strike day "extremely regrettable". He said it would cause significant disruption to critical services while the industrial relations process continued. The Workplace Relations Commission said it had asked the Government-appointed group to consider issues where 10 days of talks had reached an impasse and propose a way forward.

The last nationwide stoppage on 14 October closed schools, forced the rescheduling of thousands of non-emergency hospital appointments and cancelled driving tests and most court hearings, the Irish Examiner reported. A second strike planned for 21 October was postponed after talks began at the Workplace Relations Commission.

What happens next

All three teachers' unions authorised the stoppage by Monday evening, and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation was set to follow late on Tuesday, the Irish Times reported. Tánaiste Simon Harris said there were nine days to go until the next strike and called for a solution. Taoiseach Micheál Martin told the Dáil there was no need for a strike and that talks should be allowed to continue.

Unions plan a rally in Dublin and regional rallies on the strike day. The ICTU public services committee said it would consider intensifying work-to-rule and further action beyond 12 November.