Public sector strike could be followed by rolling disruption, union leader warns

Next week’s public sector strike is likely to be followed by a campaign of rolling local and sectoral disruption if no agreement on a new public sector pay deal is reached, a union leader has warned. Kevin Callinan, the general secretary of Fórsa, which represents almost a third of the more than 300,000 public and civil servants involved in the dispute, said it was unlikely that there would be any more one-day national strikes after Thursday’s if the dispute continued.“Various things are under consideration ... sectoral actions ... possibly stoppages, possibly other things,” he told RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland on Wednesday. “In my own union, we’re looking at the option of deploying our strike fund to take out sections of our members for a week and make up their wages. We could do that for very significant numbers in key areas if we have to.READ MORE“We could rotate it week by week. Maybe 1,000 members here one week, 1,000 members in another place the following week.”If implemented, the strategy would allow the different unions flexibility in the way they take action in their own areas, including education, health, social protection and local government and potentially cause substantial ongoing disruption to the public.Public sector unions have endorsed a decision by negotiators to reject a pay offer worth 7.75 per cent over two and a half years and to go on strike on November 12th, the day Ireland is hosting world leaders at a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC). The strike also comes on the eve of an informal meeting of European leaders being held as part of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.Efforts to resolve the dispute will continue on Wednesday as the two sides again engage separately with the steering committee chaired by Workplace Relations Commission chairman Kevin Foley in the hope of establishing a basis for the resumption of talks.[ Public sector workers prepare for second strike after rejecting pay offer worth 7.75%Opens in new window ]Mater Hospital workers were among the 300,000 public sector workers who took part in a one-day work stoppage over pay talks. Photograph: Bryan O’Brien/The Irish Times Callinan said public servants did not want to be on strike but again claimed the Government offer on pay to date – 6.75 per cent plus 1 per cent for local bargaining – was “not credible”.“Nobody wants to be on strike next week,” he said. “Nobody, including our own members who will be faced with similar issues if they’re parents and children, nobody wants that. “But I think we really need people out there to understand what the Government have proposed in response to this dispute is a worsening of living standards over the next two and a half years. That is never going to be acceptable.“Cumulatively, the pay element of it would have been 6.75 per cent ... but with inflation running at 4 per cent, 4 per cent plus, that would be wiped out quickly in the lifetime of the proposed agreement, which was 30 months. All the risk in relation to inflation is on our side.”He declined to say what figure the unions have identified as the minimum required to resolve the dispute but said WRC officials were broadly aware of what was needed for a deal to be done.“They have a very strong idea in relation to what it would take to settle this dispute. The question now is whether or not the Government are going to settle.”[ Two sides in public pay dispute meet to discuss restarting talks as strike threat loomsOpens in new window ]