TRADE UNIONS are to defer any major escalation of their campaign of industrial action in the public service for up to a month to allow the Government to decide if it wants to re-engage in talks.
However, the current, relatively low-level, campaign of action in protest at pay cuts introduced in the budget is to continue. This industrial action has now been under way for about a month.
Yesterday afternoon, lower-paid civil servants, who are members of the CPSU, put in place a ban on answering phones across all Government departments.
Also yesterday, the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said it had identified a number of potential forms of action that unions could take as part of an overall escalation of the campaign. Informed sources said that a number of ideas were considered at the meeting, including rolling work stoppages and an overtime ban.
Speaking after the meeting, Tom Geraghty, the general secretary of the PSEU, said it was the view of the committee that unions should hold off for four weeks before taking the action to a situation where it had a significant impact on the public.
Mr Geraghty said the purpose was to ensure that the Government would avail of the opportunity to re-engage with the unions if that was its wish.