Public service trade unions have warned that “time is running short” to negotiate a new pay agreement for about 340,000 State employees. At a meeting on Friday public service trade union leaders maintained that any new deal “ must be sufficiently robust to last until the worst of the Covid crisis has passed”. They also said that any new accord must be capable of addressing a wide variety of concerns among different sectors and groups in the public service. In a statement on Friday the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions expressed concerns “that the time available to negotiate, draft and ratify a successor public service pay agreement, ahead of the expiration of the current PSSA (Public Service Stability Agreement) on 31st December, is running short”. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said on Thursday that exploratory discussions between the parties to the current public service agreement were ongoing .

Source: The Irish Times October 23, 2020 18:56 UTC