Public service trade unions have welcomed the €38.33 fortnightly “down payment” for their members as a result of the Government’s decision to bring forward pay increases from April, but have warned that much more will be expected in a new deal later this year.

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.

Other public transport sector workers now voicing disaffection and clamouring for more, writes Stephen Rogers

Talks on how much of the Government’s €750m public expenditure pledge will be given over to pay restoration for its staff will begin this afternoon, with the pension levy likely to feature high on the agenda over the coming days.

The trade union representing mid-ranking civil servants has said its members will withhold any further productivity in order to secure a restoration of pay in talks beginning next month.

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.

Tom Geraghty of the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) was complaining yesterday that his members have suffered disproportionately in losing around €483 a month as a result of pay cuts, the pension levy, and higher taxes imposed during the current recession.

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.

If the Government imposes a second pay cut of up to 7% in the space of three years on public servants, it will likely mean the loss of key public services if teachers, nurses, doctors, and civil servants choose to fight the cuts with industrial action.

The Irish National Teachers' Organisation and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation have rejected the possible extension to the Croke Park agreement.

The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said the Government will reflect on the decisions of unions on the proposed Croke Park II Agreement.

UNITE has rejected the revised Croke Park Agreement.

The Public Service Executive Union has voted to accept the Croke Park II proposals.

Government plans to save €1bn from the public service paybill under Croke Park II were given a major boost last night when the leadership of Siptu said it would be campaigning for a yes vote.

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.

Representatives of rank-and-file gardaí will decide on Monday how to escalate their ongoing protest against the Government’s proposed cuts to their wage packets.

The government’s spending watchdog is to scrutinise public-sector allowances in the wake of a review which only succeeded in abolishing one.

More than one in four civil service staff have witnessed their colleagues make racist remarks about clients or customers in the last year, a survey of racist attitudes in the service has found.

Senior public servants have been warned the Government is looking for greaterefficiency as it revealed the wage bill for the sector will fall by one fifth by 2015.

Senior public servants have been warned the Government is looking for more efficiency as it revealed the wage bill for the sector will fall by a fifth by 2015.

The Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) has said the Croke Park Agreement is working.

Maintaining the Croke Park Agreement is likely to top the agenda when delegates of the Public Service Executive Union meet later for their annual conference.