Social partners close to clinching wage agreement

AFTER eight days of protracted talks and extended deadlines, the social partners will today try to complete a new national wage agreement.

However, they are faced with a tough timetable in the coming hours, with decisions on key issues left to the last minute.

The percentage pay increase that workers in the public and private sector will achieve, the duration of the new agreement and the size of any pay pause in the sectors, will not be addressed in their entirety until today. Those, to varying degrees, are the divisive issues between the employer and employee bodies.