Frontline workers tonight vowed to step up their campaign against the €1bn state pay deal.

Cutting the public sector pay bill by a billion euro is absolutely fair, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted a deal to cut €1bn from the public sector pay bill is fair and proportionate.

Several leading trade unions have urged private and public sector workers who are struggling financially to join an anti-austerity march in Dublin on Nov 24.

A Cabinet minister says he hopes most homeowners would pay the household charge by the end-of-March deadline but conceded that a number will not until the end of the year.

Resistance to the €100 household tax is set to escalate, with workers threatening strike action if the charge is deducted from their wages.

A group of trade unions is joining forces to demand a Government U-turn on the household charge.

A number of trade union organisations have joined the campaign to oppose the new €100 household charge.

Unite has become the latest union to reject the public sector pay and reform deal.

THE Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU), in issuing protective strike notice, had better prepare for a long, bitter, costly and intransigent strike if that is where they are headed.

Health workers say their 48-hour strike action which will hit seven Dublin hospitals must go ahead because the notice for it was served before the latest talks on public sector pay were agreed.

An escalation of industrial action affecting Government services is expected in the coming weeks.

THE Civil and Public Service Union (CSPU) has served the Government with strike notice.

The Civil and Public Service Union (CSPU) has served the Government with strike notice.

The Government has been given a six-week deadline by unions leaders to resolve the dispute over public sector pay cuts.

This afternoon will see a blanket ban imposed on answering calls across the entire civil service.

Members of the Civil and Public Service Union are stepping up their industrial action in response to pay cuts.

The Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU) says its members will not accept any pay cuts in the upcoming Budget.

The leadership of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is expected to consider proposals for a campaign of opposition to government cutbacks when it meets later today.

Fianna Fáil TDs are due to be briefed today about the details of the Government's planned NAMA legislation and the level of debt in the Irish property sector.

FOURTEEN women employed as civilian clerical officers in Garda stations are claiming gender discrimination because they are paid less than gardaí doing the same work, the High Court heard yesterday.

Lower-paid civil servants have voted to intensify their campaign of industrial action against the public-sector pension levy.

Civil servants around the country have held lunchtime pickets at their offices today to highlight their opposition to the public-sector pension levy.

Around 13,000 civil servants are due to mount lunchtime protests at all Government offices today as part of their campaign against the controversial pension levy on public sector workers.

Members of the Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU) are picketing the Dáil today as part of their day-long strike against the public-sector pension levy.

The UNITE trade union has decided to ballot its workers in local authorities and the HSE on industrial action in opposition to the public-sector pension levy.

The Government is set to publish legislation today paving the way for the imposition of pension levies ranging from 3% to almost 10% on all public-sector workers.

UNIONS representing more than 60,000 teachers have warned of the serious possibility of industrial action if the Government does not negotiate with them, and others representing public servants, about the controversial pension levy it plans to introduce.

A one day nationwide stoppage by lower paid civil servants is being planned for later this month, it was confirmed this afternoon.

The Civil and Public Service Union (CPSU) has decided to ballot its members for industrial action, following a meeting today.

The executives of two of Ireland's largest public-sector unions are meeting today to discuss the Government's decision to impose a pension levy on their members.

STAFF in social welfare offices are struggling to cope with the increased rate of unemployment, leaving dole claimants waiting 12 weeks to have their claims processed.

A junior minister at the centre of a row with the civil service is being told to apologise or quit.

Talks to hammer out a new national wage deal are set to continue for the rest of the week after no agreement emerged tonight from Government Buildings.

TRADE union leaders clashed yesterday over the Lisbon treaty and its implications for workers.

The largest union representing civil and public servants has hit back at criticism aimed at its members.

The Labour Court has reportedly cleared the way for the Gardaí to accelerate the recruitment of civilian support staff.

THE Government’s National Consumer Agency is facing the threat of strike action just weeks after becoming an official body with tough new powers.

STAFF charged with clearing the six-month backlog in payments for new pension claimants are to start a series of work stoppages from next Tuesday over the way they are being treated by the Government.

GOVERNMENT plans to reduce the backlog of more than 130,000 people waiting for driving tests were in tatters last night.

Mary Dundon, Political Reporter

THE Government may end up paying out millions of euro in compensation to female civil servants who missed out on promotion after the Labour Court decided yesterday their discrimination cases could proceed.

ONLY 46 of the 2,300 employees in State agencies whose jobs are being decentralised have agreed to follow their own jobs down the country.

PUBLIC servants face a 10-week deadline to prove hey have made improvements to work practices sufficient to warrant payment of the next round of benchmarking awards.