Unions face cross-Dáil scrutiny of pay claims

Public service workers are being warned that upcoming talks on a new pay increase will be more complicated, because unions will not only have to convince the Government, but also the opposition.

In his union’s Work & Life magazine, Impact head of communications, Bernard Harbor, tells members that Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will be “no pushover” in the talks, which are due to get underway in a matter of weeks, “even if his early determination to see out the Lansdowne Road deal to its September, 2018 conclusion wilted in the face of union arguments last December”.

Those talks will begin once the Public Service Pay Commission reports on how the Government’s financial emergency measures in the public service (FEMPI) cost savings, introduced during the economic collapse, should be unwound.