Chaos looms as unions ballot for day of strikes

SCHOOLS look set to close and other public services set to be thrown into chaos after all the public service unions agreed to ballot for a day of action on Tuesday, November 24.

If union members vote in favour of strike, the bulk of the country’s 310,000 public servants, including teachers, nurses and civil servants will down tools in protest at plans to cut the public sector pay bill by 6.5%.

The decision to press ahead with the action, which was sought by the country’s largest solely public service union, IMPACT, was made as the unions met with the Government to open formal discussions on its intention to reduce the €20 billion public sector wage bill by €1.3bn.