Pay talks adjourned without agreement over 'impasse'

Talks on a new public sector pay deal have been adjourned without agreement with unions claiming there is a 'significant impasse' between the sides.

Union leaders left the talks at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) shortly after 11pm.

Lead union negotiator and General Secretary of the Fórsa trade union Kevin Callinan spoke to reporters as he left the talks.

"We have reached an impasse," Mr Callinan said.

"It doesn't seem possible at this moment that it is going to be possible to reach an agreement that we could confidently put to our members in a ballot."

"Our next step is to meet with our affiliate unions on Monday morning where will brief them on the negotiations and decide on our next steps," he added.

Strike possible on 11 November

Earlier, Mr Callinan had told his fellow union leaders that if a draft agreement was not available at Monday's meeting they would consider plans for a nationwide strike on Wednesday 11 November.

An independent group, chaired by WRC Chair Kevin Foley, was appointed to construct the framework of the pay talks.

The body previously said it would be available to assist in the event of an impasse being reached.

Mr Callinan said it would be a matter for the WRC if it wanted to involve the independent body

"We'll make ourselves available but right now we are at a pretty significant impasse," he said.

"We would respect the WRC's judgement, but we need to be confident that any proposals would be likely to be accepted by members, and we are a long way from that," he added.

In a message to Fórsa members earlier yesterday, Mr Callinan said the Government had yet to put forward a credible offer and that it remained to be seen whether it would do so.

He described the talks as "lengthy, and at times heated", adding that if the sides fail to reach an acceptable agreement by the weekend, it would leave unions with no alternative but to escalate industrial action.