Ireland's public sector pay talks have stopped short of a deal. On Saturday the Workplace Relations Commission said that after 10 days of intensive negotiation, certain matters had reached an impasse. It has asked a government-appointed group, chaired by WRC chair Kevin Foley, to consider those issues and put forward a means of resolution. Everything else stays with the commission. The talks are not over, and the detail remains confidential to the parties.
That is a different ending from the one ministers hoped to announce this weekend. On Friday the talks entered a tenth day, with unions saying the week would close with an agreement or without one. It has closed without one. Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Forsa and chair of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions public services committee, said on Friday night that the gap was too wide to close. The session ended at about 11.30pm. SIPTU told members the same: an agreement the unions could confidently put to a ballot does not, at this time, look possible.
What Monday is for
The public services committee meets on Monday morning. Callinan has told affiliate unions that if there is still no draft agreement, they will discuss the next step, including a second national strike on Wednesday 11 November. He had already warned that the strike, covering more than 300,000 staff, would close schools again and hit hospitals, local authorities and other services, with demonstrations in Dublin and other cities. Seven days' notice is required. In health the usual notice is longer, about three weeks, but the unions believe they remain covered by the original notice and by the work to rule already in place.
Jack Chambers, the minister for public expenditure, said he was disappointed. He thanked the parties and the WRC, and said the government remains committed to a deal that is fair to workers and affordable for the country. He did not publish a new figure. Union sources have said for days that the offer on the table does not meet the gap between pay and inflation over five years, a payment for the second half of this year, or protection if prices jump again during the life of a new agreement.
Why Foley is back in the room
The Foley group was appointed to build the framework of the talks, and it had said it would be available if the two sides stuck. The WRC is now using that promise. Asking the chair of the commission's own process to propose a resolution, through a separate government-appointed body, is an unusual step. It is also a way of keeping the conversation alive without pretending Friday night was a success. Other issues, the commission was careful to say, remain in its own hands.
Where the Talks Stand on Sunday
- Ten days of talks under the WRC have ended without an agreement.
- Kevin Foley's group is asked to propose a way through the stuck issues.
- Unions meet on Monday. A strike on Wednesday 11 November is the contingency.
- More than 300,000 public servants would be covered.
- Jack Chambers says the government still wants a deal it can afford.
A deal this weekend would have kept 11 November as a date on a piece of paper. Sunday finds it moving onto Monday's agenda. Parents, hospital managers and council chief executives will spend the next two days watching whether Foley can write a number both sides will take to their principals. If he cannot, the notice for a second national stoppage has to be settled early in the week. British readers with family, staff or supply chains in the Republic should treat 11 November as a live date until Monday says otherwise.