Public sector strike planned for 8 December

The Health and Social Welfare Union is the latest public sector union to commit to joining the national strike on 4 December and it has called on other unions in the health sector to support the action. The unions are waiting for a commitment from the government to negotiate over the public sector pay structure and measures to address cuts in pay. The unions want to see implementation of an agreement earlier this year to reverse an 8% cut in pay grades and some specific measures covering education workers. In particular, the unions want to maintain the public sector-wide pay structure.

The three main public sector union federations are all planning to protest against government policy on funding public sector pay. On 2 December the CISL FP and UIL FPL federations have called for a day of action demanding that the government honour agreements negotiated for the 2008-2009 period and ensure that funding will be available for the next bargaining round that will cover the three years 2010-2012. The FP-CGIL federation has called a national public sector strike on 11 December with a specific demand of a €150 a month increase over 2010-2012. The union has several other key demands

Public sector unions have drawn up plans for a national strike on 24 November in protest at government plans for more cuts to public sector pay. The unions have called on the government to quantify and recognize the effect of the pensions levy imposed on public sector workers as well as the freeze on recruitment and pay over the next three years. The Impact union estimates that these measures have saved the government €1.3 billion in 2009 and will mean savings of €2.4 billion in 2010. Unions want the government to negotiate over the crisis and find alternatives to the cuts to pay and services