60,000 Siptu members may strike unless pay talks resume

Siptu’s decision to threaten strike action means more than a third of the country’s 300,000 public servants could take to the picket line in a matter of weeks if the Government does not accede to their demands for a renegotiation of the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA).

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation earlier this week warned of potential strikes by its 40,000 members — and further action is still very possible if current talks fail with the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland.

Now Siptu president Jack O’Connor has given the Government just a week to invite the public service union members of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to talks on a renegotiation of the pay deal. He said those talks should begin no later than February 1.