Members of the largest public sector union in the country have called for the Government to factor-in the rising cost of living in upcoming new pay deals.
The Forsa conference is meeting in Killarney this week and the 700 delegates there passed a series of motions calling for higher wages to match the soaring cost of living.
One motion called for a pay rise across the board of 6%, while another one looking for a 30% hike was withdrawn.
The existing agreement, Building Momentum, is due to expire this year, but it guarantees a 1% hike for all of the country’s public servants this year as its last act.
Forsa General Secretary, Kevin Callinan, told his delegates: “The cost-of-living crisis demands more than a talking shop if living standards are to be protected.
“With the World Bank predicting that energy and commodity prices will remain ‘historically high’ until 2024, the value of Irish social dialogue will be measured by outcomes, not the number of meetings scheduled.
“These things won’t be rectified overnight.
“But we need to start the job with urgency and rigour, and achieve early and tangible results, because Ireland’s low social wage is feeding directly into today’s cost of living crisis.”
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