Unions and Government face a collision course in upcoming negotiations over working hours.

Fianna Fáil's warning the Public Expenditure Minister they will be keeping a close eye on him to ensure there is no reduction in services to fund the public servants pay deal.

Government has come under sustained pressure to explain the €120m black hole which will have to be filled to deliver public sector wage increases.

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.

Pressure is mounting on the Government to fast-track the new Public Service Pay Commission as it scrambles to cope with mounting pay demands by unions in the wake of a €40m proposed deal for gardaí.

Mounting demands for pay rises in the public sector will be discussed between the Government and trade union representatives this week as the fall-out from a special Garda pay deal continues.

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

The public sector is demanding its pound of flesh for recession

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.

With more than 65,000 days already lost to work stoppages this year, there are several potential flashpoint areas ahead, writes Stephen Rogers

Ahead of this afternoon’s announcement of the Government’s spring statement, public service unions have been setting out their stall as to what they want for their members from a rejuvenated state bank balance.

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.

A senior trade union leader has launched a broadside at a number of independent TDs who he claims are "scapegoating the public service for political advantage".

Pre-tax profits at the consultancy firm that carried out a report into the pay at Irish banks last year increased by 54% to €9.57m.

One of the country’s most senior public sector union leaders has warned public service workers not to get "over-expectant" about a restoration of pay and conditions mooted by the Government.

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.

A public service trade union has said public sector workers should be “first in the queue” for restoration of their pay levels before the Government considers tax cuts across the economy.

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.

Fee-charging schools have warned that further cuts to their funding in next month’s budget will cost the taxpayer money.

Trade unions warned today that there will be industrial action if the Government imposes further public-sector pay cuts.

SIPTU leader Jack O’Connor posed a pertinent question just a couple of hours before the framework for Croke Park II became public.

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

Suggestions by Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar that any follow-up deal to the Croke Park Agreement must include compulsory redundancies in the public sector were shot down by ministerial colleague Brendan Howlin yesterday.

The briefest consideration of two events yesterday may not be the perfect way to illustrate how people in the same society exist in parallel universes, but it is better than most.

The General Secretary of the Public Services Executive Union has today defended a decision to sanction pay increments to more than 3,000 public-sector workers who earn an annual salary of more than €70,000.

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

SPECULATION is rife that next year’s Circuit of Ireland Rally will be included in the global Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) series.

The General Secretary of the Public Service Executive Union Tom Geraghty has said the Croke Park agreement is "working" and therefore "should be maintained".

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.

A union chief is defending the arrangement whereby public servants could get a lump sum payment to compensate them for loss of earnings if their work practices change.

FOR Ireland to escape the drop zone and avoid relegation from the euro currency league, we must win our home fixtures. Away games are subject to vagaries of fortune.

Plans by the Government to abolish privilege days for civil servants have been rejected by an aribtration board.

TONY Blair and George Bush maintained one maxim throughout the Iraq war.

Fine Gael is preparing to unveil its plan to shake up the public service if it gets into government.

THE former chief executive of the Irish Courts Service PJ Fitzpatrick is to chair the implementation body which will oversee the Croke Park deal on public service pay and reform.

AT the public service negotiations in Croke Park recently, it seemed trade union leaders were “transformed” into speaking the same language as the Government.

The Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) conference has endorsed its leadership’s decision to recommend acceptance of the Croke Park agreement on public sector pay and reform.

THE day-to-day business of the Dáil and the Seanad are to be severely impacted by an escalation of industrial action by the three main civil service unions.

TELEPHONES in all the Government departments went unanswered yesterday afternoon as public service unions ratcheted up their industrial action in protest at the pay cuts introduced in the last budget.

PUBLIC service staff are to hold a mass meeting later this month to discuss their ongoing industrial action in protest at the pay cuts announced in the last budget.

A senior public sector union figure has warned that members may need to sacrifice certain allowances in order to avoid a pay cut.

Tens of thousands of workers are preparing to take part in a series of country-wide demonstrations this afternoon in opposition to planned Budget cutbacks.