The employers' group, IBEC, has reiterated its demand for a pay pause as part of an eventual partnership agreement. IBEC's Director General, Turlough O'Sullivan, said the 'one size fits all' approach to pay was now under stress because not all companies had the same ability to pay.
Earlier, the ICTU General Secretary, David Begg, said there had so far been no great leap forward regarding proposals on the table. Mr Begg confirmed that the employers had raised the possibility of an 18-month pay deal. However, he said the trade union movement would need some persuading to accept a deal running longer than 12 months.
He said 18 months could be too long a period to address the immediate difficulties, but added that nothing had been ruled in or out. Mr Begg also said that tomorrow's ICTU all-Ireland Executive Council meeting scheduled to take place in Belfast would probably be deferred to allow the talks to proceed.
Yesterday IBEC said it was pessimistic about the prospect of a deal. The Congress of Trade Unions said the sides were still quite far apart. Little progress last night
Little progress last nightLast night's talks at Government Buildings were chaired by the Secretary General of the Taoiseach's Department, Dermot McCarthy.
While little progress is reported to have been made on the core issue of pay, some movement was reported on the possible duration of any deal, with the focus reportedly shifting from a 12-month deal to an 18-month one.
Minor progress was also understood to have been made on issues such as union recognition, redundancy and how any new pay deal could be enforced. However, agreement on pay remained elusive with the unions continuing to hold out for increases of at least 5%, equivalent to inflation.
But following the claim by the General Secretary of the ICTU, Sen Joe O'Toole, that the situation will be irretrievable if a pay deal is not agreed by tomorrow, the prospect of an agreement acceptable to both sides remains in the balance.
