Talks between Government officials and trade unions on plans to reduce the public sector pay bill by €1.3 billion next year have resumed at Government Buildings and are expected to enter a crucial phase today.
The public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is opposed to Government proposals to generate the savings by means of across-the-board cuts in pay levels.
The unions have proposed a two-stage process under which significant savings would be produced from 2011 onwards by means of transformation programme in the public service which would involve considerable job reductions and the introduction of widespread reforms and productivity measures.
The unions have accepted that for next year special temporary measures to reduce costs will be required because the savings from the proposed transformation deal would not come on stream until the following year.
The Irish Timesrevealed yesterday that the introduction of a compulsory unpaid leave arrangement for staff in the public service next year was emerging as a central feature of any alternative deal between unions and the Government for reducing the public sector pay bill without across-the-board pay cuts.
If the current talks fail, a further national 24-hour stoppage by public service unions is scheduled for Thursday while the Government would be expected to announce pay cuts in the Budget the following Wednesday.
Public sector unions and representative bodies spent much of yesterday in talks with officials of the Department of Finance, the Department of Health, the Department of the Environment, the Department of Education, the HSE, the Department of Justice and the Department of Defence on plans for reforms in various areas of the public service.
These discussions are expected to continue today.
Separately a smaller group of negotiators are examining the measures, including the proposed unpaid leave arrangement, that could generate the required savings for next year without the need to reduce pay levels.
Reuters
