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IRELAND: Statement on Public Sector Pay Negotiations

editor@labortoday.international
Jul 28
2 min read

SOURCE: CP of IRELAND. July 28, 2026

 

Socialist Voice is the newspaper of the Communist Party of Ireland
Socialist Voice is the newspaper of the Communist Party of Ireland

The decision of public sector unions to prepare for and conduct ballots for industrial action is, at this time, necessary. The previous agreement is now up and the Government has failed to engage meaningfully with workers’ unions. Indeed, their rhetoric has attempted to divide workers and pit public sector pay against public services while at the same time providing massive tax cuts to the likes of McDonalds. In entering into negotiations in the coming weeks, the Industrial Committee of the Communist Party of Ireland encourages the labour movement to remain strong on the following items:

1. There must be a real pay increase for members protecting workers and their families against inflation.  Any agreement concluded months after the expiry of the previous settlement must provide an increase covering the period from 1 July 2026. 2. Unmet commitments under the previous agreement should be honoured. The union movement must not accept a demand for industrial peace while local bargaining claims remain unresolved. Commitments already entered into must be implemented fully and within an agreed timeframe. Local bargaining processes should be strengthened.3. Pay negotiations should not become a blank cheque for the Government on labour deployment, restructuring and/or change. The labour movement should consent to no changes affecting jobs, staffing levels, workloads, working locations, professional standards or established conditions without specific prior negotiation and collective agreement. Unions should demand the necessary funding for public services and an end to creeping privatisation.4. Unions need to steel themselves to challenge the inevitable arguments from the Establishment about the constraints of the government’s fiscal space. Fiscal space is not a politically neutral quantity. It is shaped by decisions about public expenditure, tax reductions, tax reliefs and which forms of income and wealth the State chooses to tax or leave untaxed. Furthermore, adjustments to income-tax bands may be necessary to prevent workers being penalised by ‘fiscal drag’, but they must not be presented as a substitute for a public-service pay increase. Tax reductions do not improve salary scales or pensionable pay and their benefits are not distributed equally. As Ireland learnt during the 2000s, weakening the permanent tax base is not a sustainable strategy.

The Industrial Committee of the Communist Party of Ireland supports our public sector members and public sector unions in their ballots for industrial action and in taking strong and clear negotiating positions.

 
 
 

Comments

Workers and Retirees vs. Milei: The Fight for a Shared Future

Class War and Market Predation

Contra la privatización: La clase obrera argentina en lucha

We must be clear: the assault on Argentine retirees is a direct attack on the entire working class. While the capitalist media distracts us with the president’s erratic social media outbursts, we recognize these as a smokescreen for the systemic dismantling of our social security. We refuse to be passive observers as the wealth we generated through decades of labor is handed over to private financiers and local oligarchs under the guise of austerity.

This is not a crisis of leadership—it is a brutal class war.

Our demand is non-negotiable: we must establish a new public, non-state, pay-as-you-go, and solidarity-based pension system. This structure must be managed and administered directly by those it serves: active and retired workers. We refuse any attempt at privatization or the further erosion of our dignity by a government that views the elderly as liabilities rather than the builders of our nation’s heritage. The struggle of the retirees is the struggle of every union member today.

International Solidarity Against Capital

The core issue is not the president’s personality, but the predatory capitalist agenda he enforces. As rival factions of the right-wing elite squabble over the spoils of the state, the working class continues to suffer. Whether it is the internal corruption of 'Freedom Advances' or the boardroom battles between industrial giants like Paolo Rocca and the Clarín Group, the outcome for us is always the same: austerity, layoffs, and the theft of our futures. We stand with those defending public education, healthcare, and science against a 'lion' who is nothing more than a puppet for global capital. No worker is left behind in this fight.

Argentina, May 18, 2026
NATIONAL COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF RETIREES' AND PENSIONERS' ORGANIZATIONS OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

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