The public sector faces widespread strikes if progress is not made on a new national pay deal following the result of a ballot on Monday.<\/p>\n
Siptu<\/a>, the country\u2019s second largest organiser of public sector workers with about 75,000 members, said 97 per cent of those who participated in a ballot voted in support of strike action.<\/p>\n Members of Unite<\/a> and the Prison Officers Association have already voted to take industrial action in the absence of a deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThis clear and decisive result reflects the deep and utter frustration among our members at the Government\u2019s failure to present workers\u2019 representatives with serious proposals on pay or provide guarantees against outsourcing,\u201d said Siptu deputy general secretary Adrian Kane. <\/p>\n \u201cThe previous public service agreement expired in June, and this Government has sat on its hands since then. Trade unions have been available for months to negotiate a successor agreement, but the Government has failed to engage meaningfully. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is unacceptable and has caused a huge swell of anger across our 75,000-strong membership in the public service. The cost-of-living crisis affects workers throughout the economy. <\/p>\n \u201cPublic service workers not only deliver vital health, local government, education and other essential frontline and emergency services to our communities; they are also the partners, parents, siblings and children of workers in every other sector.\u201d<\/p>\n F\u00f3rsa<\/a>, which has 100,000 members \u2013 almost all of them in the public sector \u2013 will announce the outcome of its ballot on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Kevin Callinan, a key player in the pay talks process in his role as chairman of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions\u2019<\/a> public services committee, is expected to address the delay in commencing negotiation on a successor to the deal, which expired at the end of June.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Jack Chambers: We\u2019re ready to do a deal on public servants\u2019 pay \u2013 and everything is on the tableOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n That deal delivered increases of 9.25 per cent over 2\u00bd years. Many of the country\u2019s 400,000 public sector employees also received another 1 per cent under a \u201clocal bargaining\u201d process provided for under the agreement.<\/p>\n However, in some cases this was targeted at specific groups where outstanding issues were felt to exist, and in others it has yet to be paid due to disagreements with the Department of Public Expenditure over what should qualify.<\/p>\n Another of the country\u2019s biggest public sector unions, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation<\/a>, is due to complete its ballot over the next week, while the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland<\/a> (ASTI), which has about 20,000 members, said on Monday it will hold a ballot of its own before the end of September.<\/p>\n ASTI president Richie Bell said the union\u2019s members had shown \u201cgood faith in engaging with significant reform and change through the years\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cIn return they are entitled to fair pay and genuine engagement from the Government rather than delay and inaction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The union said the two 1 per cent pay increases received by public servants since the start of this year under the terms of the old deal have already been cancelled out by inflation, and new agreement is required to cover the final six months of 2026 and all of next year.<\/p>\n