LAST UPDATE | 7 mins ago

PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS in the trade union Siptu have voted in favour of industrial action, up to and including strike action, in a ballot of its members.

Members employed in health, local government and State agencies were balloted in this phase. Of these members, 98% were in favour of industrial action and 97% were in favour of strike action.

The ballots were counted in Liberty Hall in Dublin and centres in Galway and Cork, the union said.

Siptu said its vote for industrial action came as it continues to seek serious proposals on pay and guarantees against outsourcing.

Its deputy general secretary Adrian Kane said the vote’s result reflects the “deep and utter frustration” among members at the government’s failure to present workers’ representatives with proposals on these two matters. 

The previous public service agreement expired in June – “and this government has sat on its hands since then,” Kane said. It covered more than 80,000 SIPTU members and provided for general pay increases of 9.25%, along with a 1% local bargaining fund.

He added that trade unions have been available for months to negotiate a successor agreement, but said the government has “failed to engage meaningfully”.

“It is unacceptable and has caused a huge swell of anger across our 75,000-strong membership in the public service,” Kane said.

“As a result, the value of public service workers’ wages continues to be eroded, while already overstretched public services are being placed under even greater pressure. The cost-of-living crisis affects workers throughout the economy.”

Concerns over AI’s influence in the workplace were also raised by Kane, who said workers should be consulted with before any AI systems are implemented in workplaces that affect recruitment, staffing, rosters, workloads, and performance reviews, as well as access to services or employment conditions.

Siptu will now confer with its sister unions across the public service as they complete their balloting processes, he said, and jointly determine action it deems necessary “to compel the government to enter meaningful negotiations”.

Labour’s enterprise spokesperson, TD George Lawlor, said the vote “demands real action” from the government.

He said public sector workers aren’t immune to cost of living pressures, and are feeling “frustrated” and “disrespected”.

Lawlor pointed to provisions in last year’s budget that provided a VAT cut for fast food chains, while public sector workers “like so many people across Ireland, are not able to cope with the dramatic increases in the cost of living”.

“Government must get a grip on that,” the TD continued, urging the government to work with the unions.

The Department of Expenditure has been contacted for comment.