Deal 'can be renegotiated': CPSU

The Civil, Public and Services Union (CPSU) has recommended rejection of the public sector pay and reform deal.

The executive of the union, which represents lower-paid civil servants, unanimously voted against the deal at a meeting this afternoon.

Members will now be balloted on the deal. The result of that ballow should be known in about three weeks time.

CPSU general secretary Blair Horan said the deal now looks likely to be rejected overall, but that "in my view…it is capable of being renegotiated".

In a statement published on the CPSU website, the executive said the Croke Park agreement was "a bad deal for workers" because it failed to secure a reversal of all paycuts, provided no guarantees on the restoration of pay levels and the reform proposal in it were "too open-ended...and therefore unacceptable".

Earlier, the Taoiseach Brian Cowen refused to deny a claim that public sector workers faced another 8% pay cut if they reject the Croke Park Agreement.

Speaking in Tipperary, Mr Cowen refused to reject the weekend claim about further pay cuts, saying the Croke Park deal is "what is now on the table".

The Health Minister Mary Harney urged public servants to "think carefully" about the public sector pay-and-reform deal and warned unions that there was no other alternative on offer.