Unions can’t afford to disregard deadline as negotiations intensify

Stephen Rogers says unions believe the Feb 28 target is ‘doable’

Five years ago, public service unions might well have had scant regard for a management-imposed deadline on reaching agreement on sweeping changes across their ranks.

However, the event of Dec 2009 still hang over the heads of hundreds of thousands of public sector workers. Failure to reach agreement with management resulted in a 7% pay cut to their core wages. Any further reductions on take-home pay under Croke Park II will be taken from that reduced total.