Talks over a new national wage agreement will continue next week.
It was hoped that a breakthrough could be reached this weekend. However, social partners left Government Buildings late last night without finalising details of a new agreement.
They say that several differences, such as health and housing, are still outstanding.
The negotiations have become the longest in the history of social partnership.
Earlier the General ecretary of Congress, David Begg, said the social part of an agreement had suffered because of the concentration on employment standards.
Fr Sean Healy of CORI said he believed the community and voluntary pillar had not lost any leverage in the talks.
He said they would not sign off on any deal that lacked commitment on social housing, welfare and other issues and he believed there was still a long way to go on these issues.
