Breaking: Public sector strikes next Wednesday called off

ASTI and Fórsa union members picketing at Patrician Academy secondary school at Mallow, Co Cork, on Wednesday. Picture: Larry Cummins

Next Wednesday's public service strike has been called off after a late intervention by Taoiseach Micheál Martin broke a months-long deadlock between the Government and unions and opened a pathway towards formal pay talks.

However, negotiations have yet to begin, with efforts starting on Saturday morning to establish the basis for entering talks.

Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan acknowledged on Friday night that the deadlock would not have been broken without Mr Martin's intervention, but insisted a pay deal must be reached within "days, not weeks".

Unions have warned that while the strike action has been suspended, their work-to-rule will remain in place until an agreement is reached.

Kevin Foley, a chairperson of the Workplace Relations Commission and former chair of the Labour Court, has been appointed to act as mediator.

The current public sector pay agreement expired in June. The Government and unions have been at loggerheads in recent months about how to convene talks, and how they should be organised.

The unions had called for pay and the cost of living to be discussed in any pay talks, while the Government said there could be no preconditions on the talks.

This language has softened in recent days, with public expenditure minister Jack Chambers saying that pay could “absolutely” be a starting point for talks.

Mr Callinan said on Friday that the strike action has been avoided following the intervention of the Taoiseach, who left a meeting in Brussels to speak to the union boss about the stalemate.

He is said to have “indicated his commitment to the process that had been developed following engagement between the union and employer sides”, according to a statement from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

Mr Callinan said that following his conversation with the Taoiseach, he believed there was a “desire on the part of the Government to reach a public service agreement quickly and an end to the current dispute”.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime, Mr Callinan said discussions had been taking place "behind the scenes" with Mr Chambers and his officials in the last 48 hours.

“Critically, this afternoon the Taoiseach emerged from the European Council meeting in Brussels to phone me, and we had a good long conversation where I relayed to him just how important it was that he understood the cost-of-living pressures that people in the public service, and indeed other workers, are under,” he said.

Mr Callinan said this is a “whole-of-Government initiative”, which the unions are prepared to “test”, but they “must be backed up in practice”.

He added: “This needs to all be attempted to be brought to a conclusion in days, not weeks.”

Mr Foley, Department of the Environment secretary general Oonagh Buckley, and ICTU general secretary Owen Reidy have been appointed to undertake a “focused and intensive exercise with the parties aimed at constructing a basis for formal negotiations at the Workplace Relations Commission”.

Mr Martin said he hopes this initiative will “allow for all sides to move forward together into meaningful negotiation and ultimately to a successful conclusion”.

“There is now a real opportunity to make progress where both parties are prepared to come together and explore the various issues, with a genuine commitment to dialogue,” he said.

Mr Chambers said he was confident there is a “genuine commitment to dialogue” and that he hoped both sides could move forward into negotiations.