Deal is close on public sector pay rates

Public sector unions and employers were last night on the brink of agreeing a deal on the implementation of benchmarking, according to sources close to the negotiations.

A number of outstanding items which had been "parked" due their highly contentious nature were entered into the talks yesterday evening.

These include proposed new recruitment and promotion procedures for the Civil Service and a Department of Education demand that parent-teacher meetings be held outside school hours.

Agreement on a programme for modernisation is a necessary condition for the payment of increases, averaging 8.9 per cent, which were recommended by the benchmarking body to bring the wages of 275,000 public sector employees in line with those in the private sector.

The progress of the talks has given a boost to the Government's attempts to forge a new national pay agreement, separate negotiations on which are to resume today.

The Government yesterday deferred for 24 hours a scheduled plenary meeting of the four social partners - employers, trade unions, farmers and community groups - to allow bilateral talks to take place.

Representatives from the community and voluntary sector were first to meet Government officials yesterday, while the employers' group IBEC has a scheduled meeting with the Government this morning. All such bilateral talks are due to be completed by 3 p.m.

Last night, the Community Platform said it remained concerned over the lack of specific commitments from the Government on social reform.

The group's spokeswoman, Ms Frances Byrne, said the situation was neither "better nor worse" following their bilateral meeting with the Government. She added: "We need to start seeing specific commitments on the table."

Her plea was backed by the Labour Party, which criticised the Government for failing to address the concerns of the sector.

The party's chief whip, Mr Emmet Stagg, said: "Fianna Fáil likes to portray itself as the party of partnership, but its arrogant and dismissive approach to matters of concern to community and voluntary groups now threatens to drive them out of the process."

He said the Labour Party would be raising the issue with Mr Ahern when the Dáil resumes today.

Meanwhile, Mr Brendan Butler of IBEC said there could be a deal within 72 hours but only if parties dropped some of their demands.

"Each of the four groups has to accept that some of its items won't receive immediate priority. I still sense that expectation levels remain somewhat unrealistic. There needs to be a severe dose of reality, or we could be here for 100 years talking," he said.