Deal is unwelcome but can’t be avoided

It may be less than one week since the Labour Relations Commission issued its recommendation on how to cut the public service pay bill by €1bn but already the deal’s survival hangs in the balance.

Yesterday’s decision by the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation — previously a Croke Park-friendly organisation — not to issue a recommendation to its 32,000 members could be seen as a barometer of the way the deal is viewed generally across the public service, given the INTO’s support of the original Croke Park deal.

In about six weeks, the leaders of the Ictu-affiliated trade unions, of which the INTO is a major player, will vote on behalf of the whole trade union movement on whether to accept or reject the deal.