SIPTU

Their mandate is overwhelming.

99% of nurses who voted supported industrial action, 98% of SIPTU members, 97% of Fórsa members.

It's clear those workers are deeply unhappy, and they don't believe that you have taken this seriously enough.

I take it very seriously, and if you look at the last series of pay agreements, the public pay and pension bill has grown by over 12 billion euro, uh, over a six-year period.

[laughs] Say that, just hypothetically.

But I said I don't like, um, SIPTU.

I don't like the SPHE.

Yes, I like that.

Even the Dáil was shut, uh, yesterday.

So we've got the l- the union leadership team of Fórsa, SIPTU, the INMO, the nurses and midwives, and the primary school, the INTO.

They're, the four of those are expected to meet today.

They're going to discuss escalating the campaign from an industrial action.

Phil Ni Häe of the Nurses and Midwives organization said it was evident from all of the pickets that their members are saying, "Too little, too late," and that all of the people out on strike were talking about the cost of living.

She said they're concerned that it's portrayed that they're not serious about taking industrial action.

She said, "Nurses and midwives never take industrial action unless it is absolutely necessary." And then Adrian Keane, who is with SIPTU, he said the dispute is about a cost of living crisis that affects all workers in the state, and that everybody knows whatever eventually may occur out of these prospective talks will have a huge impact on earnings right across the entire economy.

So that's an interesting spin from SIPTU.

You have an agreement between the union and the company.

It has just, say, SIPTU.

You have an agreement between a union and a large company, and the un- the, the agreement might be r- about to run out on the 31st of December this year.

They're working on it already in those companies.

Strong national growth and public finances do not necessarily translate into improved purchasing power for workers.

For further information, see SIPTU, Health Service Executive, RTA, The Journal, and Reuters.

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The hopes are raised at this stage, yeah, that we won't be seeing people, more than 300,000 public sector workers, going on the picket line again on the 21st of October.

So, the heads of the main unions, Fórsa, SIPTU, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, and the Irish National Teachers Organisation, they're actually due to meet today, talking about the next steps.

But what we're hearing is that the government sources are quietly optimistic of a breakthrough coming, that they will be able to, that there is a pathway to talks.

The message that there is a pathway to talks is coming from Fórsa, and the Public Expenditure Minister, Jack Chambers, is saying, look, he is accepting that the unions want pay to be discussed as a precondition to talks.

It affected schools, hospitals, universities, government departments, and county councils.

Union leaders Kevin Callanan of Fórsa, Adrian Kane of SIPTU, Phil Ni Haigh of the INMO, and John Boyle of the INTO are expected to meet today, uh, to discuss stepping up the industrial action if no breakthrough is reached.

Fionán Sheehan, Ireland editor of the Irish Independent, joins me now.

Good morning to you, Fionán.