Public service pay deal call

The country’s largest public sector trade union, Impact, has demanded talks on a successor to the Lansdowne Road pay agreement must take place within the next 12 months before the current deal expires.

Speaking at the union’s annual conference in Killarney, Jerry King told 650 delegates the scale and pace of the economic recovery, and the continuing likelihood of higher than expected growth, meant it was reasonable for unions to seek earlier engagement on pay restoration.

“It’s becoming clear that talks on a successor to the Lansdowne Road Agreement need to be accelerated. There is nothing new in this. If we are to sustain cohesion and industrial peace in the public service, FEMPI [Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act] will need to be unwound at a faster pace, with accelerated pay restoration for all public servants,” he said.

Mr King said the legacy of the moratorium on public sector recruitment had put more pressure on service delivery than ever before. He said the demands of a growing and ageing population, where some workplaces had no staff aged under 40, was causing stagnation and demonstrated a need for more public sector recruitment.

Mr King also welcomed the recent decision of the Civil Public and Services Union and the Public Service Executive Union to continue talks on a project which could see a ballot of members of all three unions in 2017 to form a new 80,000-strong public sector trade union.