McDonald accuses Government of ‘playing chicken’ with public sector workers
The Sinn Fein leader said she hoped talks over pay would be handled constructively.
Last week’s public sector strike in Ireland could have been avoided if the Government had been “doing its job” and engaging with unions, Mary Lou McDonald has said.
The Sinn Féin leader said she hoped public sector pay talks this weekend would he handled constructively as she accused the Government of “playing a game of chicken” with workers.
More than 300,00 public sector workers, including nurses, doctors, teachers and civil servants, took part in a national strike on Wednesday.
A second strike had been planned for next Wednesday but, in a statement on Friday, the Public Services Committee of ICTU said that after discussions with Government representatives, the 19 unions agreed to suspend the action.
Meetings to agree a structure for public sector pay talks are expected to begin this weekend.
While the strike action on Wednesday has been suspended, the work-to-rule action will continue.
Speaking in Dublin on Saturday, Ms McDonald said the situation had been “very, very badly handled” by the Government.
She said: “We shouldn’t have had industrial action on Wednesday, if the Government were doing its job and working constructively.
“The engagement with the workers and with their unions should have been ongoing from June onwards.
“So, the negotiations will decide in the end what the what the number is.”
She added: “I’m very, very aware that public sector workers, like everybody else, are really struggling to make ends meet.
“They have told us that and we were out on the picket lines ourselves, and all of the talk was about the cost of home heating oil and diesel and petrol and groceries and childcare, and all of those things are affecting every single working person and every working family.
“So, Government has to come at this constructively.
“I really want to see them being constructive because it seems to me that they have been thus far playing a game of chicken with public sector workers.”
On Friday, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said there was an opportunity to make progress between both parties.
He said: “I am confident there is a genuine commitment to dialogue and I hope that this initiative will now allow both sides to move forward together into meaningful negotiation.”