Reflecting on public sector pay talks: A historical context

The framework by which public-sector wage agreements are made have gone through various iterations, with some more fondly remembered than others, writes Joe Wallace

CIE employees gather at the busman's hut in St Patrick's St during a bus strike in 1947. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive/Ref 342D

Coordinated pay negotiations in Ireland date from the end of the Second World War. Coinciding with the establishment of the Labour Court in 1946, a system of wage rounds emerged. 

The coordination in these rounds was, at best, minimal, with increases gained by wage leaders acting as headline-setting agreements setting precedents. By the late 1960s, this system had come under strain, mainly because of a sharp increase in strikes and wage increases being eaten up by increasing inflation.