Fresh negotiations aimed at averting nationwide industrial action continue ahead of Thursday’s strike deadline
THE Garda Representative Association [GRA] stood down on the planned industrial action yesterday. This took the form of work-to-rule, which was originally set to begin today.
This followed a meeting held last night amongst the GRA’s Central Executive Committee, where a vote was passed to stand down work-to-rule actions, after a progressive meeting with the Garda Commissioner.
This has not reflected the Workplace Relations Commission approach, with strikes still planned to proceed on Thursday.
This comes after engagements between trade unions and government representatives with a standalone group spearheaded by Commission Chair Kevin Foley.
Negotiations are to proceed today with the hope of finalising an agreement with which both parties are satisfied.
Unions are hopeful a finalised agreement will be reached after a significantly improved offer was suggested, which is delivering a 10.5% increase in pay.
This is under the condition that the timeframe for the pay increase would be shortened as the initial proposal was 10.5% over a three year period.
The Unions were unhappy with this asking for a greater pay increase, if the timeframe was going to be a three year frame.
The total cost of the Government’s proposed 10.5% pay increase is expected to be €5 Billion in exchequer over the three year period.
Unlike the previous strike workers are being encouraged to rally in Dublin rather than picket outside of workplaces.
Negotiations are proceeding today with hopes still alive of a finalised agreement before rallies take place Thursday.
This could affect the EU commission meeting also taking place on Thursday as many roads will be shut down between 12pm and 2pm.