Fresh demands for extra pay for public workers, fuelled by a special deal for gardaí, are threatening to unravel the public sector pay deal and drain government spending from other areas.

With both Dublin Bus and Luas drivers securing double-digit wage increases and gardaí threatening strikes over their pay, two of the country’s leading trade unionists have called for a renegotiation of the latest public service pay agreement.

The country’s largest public sector trade union, Impact, has demanded talks on a successor to the Lansdowne Road pay agreement must take place within the next 12 months before the current deal expires.

A trade union representing low-paid civil servants has claimed new recruits are now earning up to €7,000 less than their lowest paid colleagues in some roles.

Revenue was justified in extending the original contract to outsource call centre services in support of the local property tax (LPT), despite objections by one of the largest civil service unions, an arbitration board has ruled.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Right2Water protestors have warned the Government the campaign against the charges will continue after tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the fifth major demonstration against the utility.

The trade union representing low-paid civil servants has warned it will pull out of next week’s pay restoration talks “like a hare from a trap” if there is no attempt to close the gap between its members and higher-paid public servants.

Protesters from the US city of Detroit are expected to join a demonstration in Dublin next month against water charges.

Right2Water, an umbrella group opposed to water charges and backed by five trade unions, has urged a spectacular and peaceful turnout for a national demonstration in Dublin on December 10.

The Government has announced an end to the long-running moratorium on recruitment in the public sector with posts to be created in the civil service next year.

The Department of Social Protection has been given the green light to outsource the 1,000 roles required to run its job activation scheme, JobPath, to the private sector.

GARDAÍ were alerted to attacks, abuse, and threats against Department of Social Protection staff and clients in almost half of serious incidents recorded by employees over the last two years.

One in 10 of the workers in full-time employment who are forced to boost their earnings with family income supplement payments are state employees.

Secondary schoolteachers are to take industrial action over the revised public sector pay deal.

The payment of €1.4 bn of increments to public sector workers over the past six years is being defended.

There was mixed news for the Haddington Road deal yesterday, with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation recommending that it be accepted, and the union representing low- paid civil servants saying it should be rejected.

The union representing university teachers is to seek legal advice to establish whether legislation imposing pay cuts on public servants is constitutional.

Prison officers have threatened the Government with potential strike action if it imposes unilateral pay cuts.

The country’s lowest-paid public servants will take industrial action if the Government enforces pay cuts, their union has warned.

Lower-paid civil servants are holding their annual conference in Galway today.

As the membership of yet another union balloted to reject the terms of Croke Park II, the number of unions which have said they will not be bound by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions decision (Ictu) on the deal rose to six.

Doctors voted yesterday against Croke Park II proposals which, they claimed, aimed to impose large pay cuts and much longer working hours on them.

The Irish Medical Organisation has become the latest public service representative body to recommend its members reject the terms of Croke Park II.

Threats by the Government to get public sector workers to agree to the new Croke Park deal won't work, according to the Unite trade union.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation executive has decided not to issue a recommendation to its 32,000 members on whether to vote to accept or reject the €1bn in savings being sought under Croke Park II.

It may be less than one week since the Labour Relations Commission issued its recommendation on how to cut the public service pay bill by €1bn but already the deal’s survival hangs in the balance.

Two of the country’s teacher bodies became the latest unions to advise members to ballot against accepting the terms of the Croke Park II.

The Civil Public and Services Union, which represents lower-ranked public servants has threatened industrial action if measures in the €1bn state pay deal are enforced.

Trade Unions are now mulling over the revised Croke Park Agreement and making up their minds on whether they will accept or reject it.

Unions representing staff at either end of the hierarchy in the civil service are to campaign for a rejection of Croke Park II.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has today told trade unions that the extension to the Croke Park deal is likely to be last of negotiations involving cuts.

A deal on an extension to the Croke Park Agreement is close.

Talks on an extension to the Croke Park Agreement continued into the early hours, despite unions representing almost 70,000 public servants walking out over the Government’s demands.

Talks on the possible extension of the Croke Park agreement have run into difficulty this evening.

The European Court of Justice’s advocate general has said justification must be given for clerical staff being paid up to €12,000 less than gardaí for essentially doing the same work, especially if the reason comes down to sex discrimination.

IT’S the sequel public service workers did not want to see and just like a box-office flop, Croke Park II will go down in flames if those workers decide they are being forced into a real-life horror story.

The Government would appear to have two choices — continue to pay public service increments of €180m or look for some other way of completing the €3.5bn in savings sought through the Croke Park deal.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has insisted the governor of the Central Bank is free to give his views on the European fiscal treaty.

ONE of the key brokers of the Croke Park deal on public service pay and reform has conceded that public servants could work longer in order to stave off potential pay cuts.

The largest union in the civil service will continue debating the impact of the economic crisis on its members at its annual conference today.

A REVIEW of the country’s passport offices by the Labour Relations Commission has concluded that 20 clerical officers need to be hired as well as 50 temporary officers if the passport service is to properly meet public demand.