Unions warn of further strike date in November if no deal is agreed at pay talks

A second national public services strike will be scheduled for Wednesday November 11th if no deal between the Government and management on a new pay agreement is reached on Friday or over the weekend.In a message sent to public service unions on Friday morning, Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Fórsa and chair of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ public services committee, said the 19 unions it encompassed should meet on Monday to get an update on the talks and, if no agreement has been reached by then, to discuss taking further action.In the message, he says the strike, which would again close the State’s schools and severely affect health, local authority and other services, would allow for demonstrations in Dublin and other major urban centres by more than 300,000 staff affected.The move comes as talks continue between the two sides at the Workplace Relations Commission.READ MORESenior officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as well as the four union leaders participating in the main negotiations arrived for the latest session at 10am on Friday.There had been some optimism that an agreement could be reached if the two sides pushed through the night on Thursday but in the end it was concluded that their respective conditions were not close enough to continue past about 10pm.Sources close to the process, which has been ongoing for two weeks, still believe a deal is possible, even probable, over the next 24 hours but several of the key areas under discussion have yet to be concluded despite significant progress having been made.Arrangements for a second national strike on November 11th have to be put in place early next week as seven days’ notice must be given. In health, the required notice period is generally three weeks but the unions believe they are covered by the original notice of action served last month and the continuing work-to-rule.The highlighting of the potential for another national stoppage may also be viewed by the Government side as an attempt by the unions to leverage their power as the talks enter what one source described as their “crunch period”.