Irish Examiner view: Is this a new era of wage negotiation?

Government and public sector unions willing to bring issues other than wage packets to the table

Money won't be the only issue of the public sector talks with the Government.

The initial phase of the forthcoming — and potentially very expensive — talks between the Government and the public sector unions has begun, but there are already welcome signs that money will not be the sole issue at hand.

Despite the current inflationary trends facing economies worldwide, it would appear that both the Government and the unions are willing to bring issues other than wage packets to the table and that negotiations between the two parties will see these traded off against basic pay terms.