Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers to stage 24-hour strike

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will take part in a national 24-hour walkout today in a dispute over pay.

The public sector workers, including nurses, doctors, teachers and civil servants, will engage in the national strike following earlier work-to-rule action.

Members of Fórsa, Ireland’s largest public sector union, as well as Siptu had voted in favour of industrial action including strike.

The major teachers’ unions as well as collective bodies for nurses, midwives and doctors also voted in favour of action.

The main teaching unions will also take part in the strike, which will see the closure of most schools, colleges and universities.

Thousands of medical appointments have also been cancelled, with the HSE warning of “significant and widespread” disruption” to its services.

Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said on Tuesday that the impact will be “most acutely” on scheduled care.

The minister said there is a derogation on emergency services and emergency departments, meaning that the ambulance service will be functioning.

On Tuesday, the Taoiseach urged trade unions for further dialogue ahead of the major public sector strike.

Micheál Martin expressed concern around the disruption that could be caused and said the 1.2 billion euro the Government set aside in the recent budget for a pay deal, provided a strong foundation for talks.

“We did appeal (on Monday) for the unions to come in for talks, and I would say in the recent Budget, the Government made a number of efforts, and took a number of initiatives, that were important for workers – significant tax cuts, continued expansion of public service numbers and specific initiatives on reducing the cost of childcare,” the Taoiseach said.

“In my view, there is a strong foundation there laid by the Budget and other measures to facilitate productive negotiations on a new national pay agreement. We have negotiated previous pay agreements in good faith, there is no reason why anyone should doubt our bona fides in respect of negotiating a new package.

“My real concern is the disruption that will be caused to many people, particularly patients who were expecting operations and procedures and indeed in terms of school days being lost.”

Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers had called on the unions to postpone the strike and instead enter talks at the Workplace Relations Commission.

However, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ Public Service Committee said there was “no basis” for the strike to be postponed.