Public service pay talks to resume amid strike threat

Teachers' unions have warned that low wages and spiralling living costs are driving teachers out of Ireland.

Public service pay talks are to resume next week as multiple unions threaten strike action over the cost-of-living crisis.

The Workplace Relations Commission invited unions and senior Department of Public Expenditure and Reform officials to resumed talks on public service pay on Monday afternoon, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ (ICTU) Public Services Committee (PSC) confirmed.

Kevin Callinan, who chairs the PSC, said that unions would engage positively in the process and were prepared to be flexible. But he restated the unions’ position that a significantly improved pay offer from the Government side was needed.

Public sector strikes have been looming ever closer with multiple unions calling for ballots on industrial action unless acceptable pay deals are struck.

PSC unions, which collectively represent over 90% of Ireland’s civil and public servants, are currently preparing industrial action ballots, which are to commence at the end of this month in a co-ordinated campaign for improved pay to counteract the cost-of-living crisis.

Public sector pay talks stalled in June after the Government offered a 2.5% increase this year and a 2.5% increase next year. This 5% increase, when added to a 2% increase already agreed for public servants this year, accounted for a 7% increase costing some €1.2bn, the Government said.

But unions said that a 5% increase over two years fell far below Ireland’s current rate of inflation, which remained at a 38-year high in July of 9.1%, according to Central Statistics Office data.

Mr Callinan said unions would prefer a negotiated outcome that could credibly be put to ballots of public servants, but added that this would not be feasible in the absence of a significantly improved Government position. He said ICTU-affiliated public service unions were united in their resolution to achieve a credible public service pay offer for 2021-2022.

Teachers leaving

Meanwhile, teachers' unions have warned that low wages and spiralling living costs are driving teachers out of Ireland.

The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) warned that skilled teachers are leaving the country for work abroad because wages here are too low to afford reasonable housing and the rising cost of living.

People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy called for pay increases to at least match inflation to keep workers in the sector.

“The Government is presiding over a situation where workers in the education sector are leaving or are choosing to take up different career paths because the rates of pay and conditions in the education sector are unbearable," he said. 

"People are unable to pay bills for energy, fuel, and food and housing costs and rents are skyrocketing to levels that are simply unaffordable for the majority.

“The Government now needs to be proactive in order to quell this recruitment and retention crisis. They can do this by giving teachers and workers in the education sector pay increases that, at the very least, match inflation. 

"This should be viewed by the Government as an emergency measure to avoid a deepening crisis in the education sector in this country.”

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisations plans to ballot members on strike action from next week unless a satisfactory pay deal is reached.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, the TUI, and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland have all indicated that they will ballot members on potential industrial action.