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🇮🇪 Ireland /Economy & Trade

Threat of public-sector industrial action ‘completely unwarranted’, Chambers says

From Irish Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers called the threat of industrial action by public-sector unions unnecessary and unwarranted.
  • More than 96% of Fórsa members and 97% of Siptu public-sector members backed industrial action in recent ballots.
  • Unions say public-sector pay has fallen at least 5% behind prices since 2020, while Chambers says the Government wants a fair successor pay agreement.

Jack Chambers has described the threat of strikes by public-sector unions as “unnecessary” and “completely unwarranted”, as a dispute over a new pay agreement intensifies.

Fórsa, the State’s largest public-sector union, said more than 96% of its members backed industrial action, including possible strikes, in a ballot last Tuesday. The previous day, 97% of Siptu public-sector members voted in favour of taking action.

Unnecessary and, in my view, completely unwarranted

· Jack ChambersThe public expenditure minister described the unions’ decision to ballot for industrial action.

The previous public-service pay deal expired in June. Exploratory meetings between the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and officials from the Department of Public Expenditure failed to produce a roadmap for negotiations, according to the unions. They view the ballots as a way to strengthen their position by keeping open the option of announcing industrial action if talks make no progress.

Fórsa says public-sector pay has fallen at least 5% behind prices since 2020 and that this must be considered in negotiations. Asked on RTÉ’s This Week programme whether the Government should make an offer, Chambers said it had offered to engage in constructive talks and wanted a fair and equitable deal for public-sector workers.

We want a fair, equitable deal for public sector workers.

· Jack ChambersChambers said the Government wanted a successor public-service pay agreement.

Chambers said the unions had spent two months balloting members instead of holding substantive talks with department officials. He also said the lowest-paid public servants had received increases of about 36% over six years, compared with inflation of about 23%. The Government, he said, wanted the stability and certainty that a pay agreement would bring.

The Business Post quoted Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan as saying Chambers had never met him or the union since taking office. Callinan warned that refusing to move would lead to “a long and bitter dispute”. The article ends during Chambers’s response to that criticism.

Then we will be in for a long and bitter dispute.

· Kevin CallinanThe Fórsa general secretary warned of prolonged conflict if the Government refused to move.
About this summary

Originally published by Irish Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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