Public service unions to consider major November strike if pay deal is not reached

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

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) will meet next week to discuss whether to hold another strike in November if no pay deal is agreed.

Pay talks at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) are ongoing. The Irish Examiner understands that, as of Friday morning, no agreement had been reached.

Sources said it was “touch and go” whether an agreement could be reached that day.

In a letter from ICTU chair Kevin Callinan to the union's Public Services Committee, seen by the Irish Examiner, the union confirmed that further strike action could take place next week.

In the letter, Mr Callinan said the committee would meet at 10am on Monday, November 2, to receive an update on the pay talks.

If no draft agreement was available, the committee would consider a proposal to hold a nationwide strike on Wednesday, November 11, with the action taking the form of a demonstration in Dublin and “other demonstrations in major regional location”.

If the strike goes ahead, it would take place the day before major European leaders are due to arrive in Dublin for a meeting of the European Political Community, the biggest event of Ireland’s presidency of the EU.

Talks have been taking place at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for the past two weeks, following months of disagreement between the Government and unions over how negotiations should be structured.

The previous pay agreement expired in June. Unions wanted pay to be discussed first, while Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers warned that there could be no preconditions before talks began.

The disagreement led to a nationwide strike involving public service workers on October 14.

While the Government had indicated that pay could be discussed as a priority, Mr Chambers’ decision to say on the eve of the strike that pay could “absolutely” be discussed first helped ease tensions.

Mr Callinan also said Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s intervention in the dispute averted a second day of planned pickets, as a mediation panel paved the way for talks to begin at the WRC.

Garda work-to-rule raises security concerns 

Meanwhile, Labour TD Alan Kelly has raised concerns about the European Political Community (EPC) meeting going ahead as gardaí prepare to begin five days of industrial action.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has argued that management is in breach of the working-time agreement for members, including provisions on breaks between shifts.

The work-to-rule action will run from Tuesday, November 10, to Saturday, November 14. It will include the EPC meeting on November 12 and the informal meeting of EU heads of state or government on November 13.

The GRA has also not ruled out further action, with its executive due to meet on Monday morning to discuss its next steps, including a possible withdrawal of services.

Mr Kelly said industrial action by gardaí would put major events at risk.

“It brings a really major issue as regards the security of this State, and there has to be a question mark over the events now in mid-November, and whether they can go ahead,” he said.

“Because if we have a situation where this work to rule is in existence, is there a threat towards the security of the events during the EU presidency?

“When the police force of this country are saying they're on a work to rule, and these major events are taking place, you'd have to say that there is a concern as regards whether these events can actually go ahead.”