Ireland Faces First Major Public Sector Strike in Nearly Two Decades as 300,000 Workers Plan One-Day Walkout
DUBLIN — Much of Ireland's public sector is set to go on strike for the first time since the height of the country's financial crisis in 2009, after trade unions rejected a late bid by the government to avert the stoppage, Reuters reported on October 12.
Some 300,000 teachers, health workers, civil servants and other public workers plan to hold a one-day strike on Wednesday, October 14, over a deadlock with the government on the basis for entering talks on public sector pay rises. For months, unions have argued that pay terms must be agreed before other issues, such as productivity, are discussed, citing cost-of-living pressures. Ministers have rejected that condition, saying it represents a break from previous deals.
In a letter to union leaders on Monday urging them to postpone the action, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said pay issues can and should be discussed as a priority alongside other matters. The chair of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions public services committee responded that union leaders could not see how this represented any change in Chambers' position or provided a basis for postponement.
Unions want any new deal to cover the gap between pay and inflation over previous years and to ensure wages do not fall behind living standards over the deal's duration. The last pay deal expired at the end of June. A series of pay increases has kept industrial peace since the harsh pay cuts that spurred the 2009 walkout, and while Ireland's economy and public finances are among the healthiest in Europe, high prices have frustrated many workers.
Essential services such as emergency hospital departments will be maintained on Wednesday and public transport will be unaffected. Fire and ambulance services will, however, run a reduced service, and hospitals have warned of significant and widespread disruption, with routine procedures cancelled. A second strike day is scheduled for Wednesday, October 21.
Source: Reuters, Dublin, October 12.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 都柏林伦斯特宫（爱尔兰议会所在地），David Kernan 摄，CC BY 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）
