Trade unions set to seek hefty increases in looming pay talks

Talks on a new public-sector pay agreement are expected to get underway “in the coming weeks”, the Government has said, with trade unions expected to push for above-inflation pay increases.

The current agreement expires at the end of June, but exploratory talks are expected to begin before that, The Irish Times reports.

There is an expectation in Government that the union side will seek hefty pay increases, as workers have seen the value of their wages diminished by the recent spike in inflation.

In a statement to The Irish Times, the Department of Public Expenditure said: “In accordance with the programme for government, Government and public-service staff representatives will be due to enter into discussions in the coming weeks on the potential for a successor agreement.

“Once an agreement is finalised funding will be allocated through the estimates process, following Government agreement.”

There is a strong feeling in union circles that if there is to be a multiannual agreement it will have to include broader elements such as remote working and some input into wider policy elements such as housing – what the unions are calling “common-good issues”.

In the absence of that, said Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Fórsa and head of the Irish Congress of Trade Union (Ictu)’s public-services committee, a short-term pay agreement is the summit of what is possible. And that will be agreed by the unions only if it adequately compensates workers for elements of last year’s budget, such as the failure to index tax bands, and the inflation over recent months that has hammered people’s spending power.

“We’re not going to sit down with the Department of Public Expenditure at the WRC [Workplace Relations Commission] and do a deal like we’ve done for the last 15 years,” Callinan said.