Talks on new pay agreement in trouble

TALKS on a new national wage agreement were in difficulty last night after trade unions warned an agreement depended entirely on employers conceding a minimum 5% pay rise.

The executive of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) is to meet on Wednesday morning and it said yesterday it would have to adopt a final

position on the possibility of a walkout by then. ICTU president Joe O’Toole also warned that any increase less than 5% could not be accepted. “That’s for an absolute certainty,” he said.