Taoiseach and union heading for conflict over pay demands

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said today that public and private sector workers must be reasonable in their pay demands.

The largest public service union IMPACT say the benchmarking process in its current form is not something it is prepared to support any further, however.

Around 28,000 members of IMPACT will begin a campaign of industrial action next week, refusing to co-operate with HSE management.

The union say the Government must renew its effort to positively reform public services like health and education.

The Taoiseach has acknowledged that pay is a crucial issue for all workers.

Speaking at the IMPACT conference in Kilkenny this afternoon Cowen stated: "If we have agreed machinery and agreed frameworks, then we must live with the results that they produce.

"Just as the public sector must behave responsibly and in accordance with proper policy approaches, there's also an onus on those in the private sector who are in a position to do so, to set and observe a proper degree of responsibility when it comes to setting income levels, having regard to the wider demonstration effect which they inevitably will have."