Pay deal process attacked by union leader

ONE of the country’s longest-serving trade union leaders has attacked the social partnership pay deal process and called for a major overhaul.

General secretary of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) Jim Dorney said his 12,000 members and other public servants are being expected to modernise in return for pay rises that do not match inflation.

The Towards 2016 pay deal which lapses in a year’s time gives annual increases of 4.6%, but the average inflation rate this year is expected to be more than 5%.