Irish public sector unions have named the eight places where they will rally on Thursday if the strike goes ahead, and the talks meant to stop it are supposed to pick up again today. The demonstrations run from noon to 2pm in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Sligo, Tullamore and Letterkenny. Unlike last month's stoppage, members will be steered towards the rallies rather than picket lines. About 300,000 staff are still due to strike on 12 November, the day European leaders meet in Dublin.
Kevin Foley, chair of the Workplace Relations Commission, is still the mediator. Unions and government officials held separate meetings with his group on Thursday. The unions did not sit down with the steering group that day. They may do so on Friday. The Department of Public Expenditure says the independent group is still engaged with both sides. Reports on Friday morning said the government wants the dispute off the table before leaders fly in, and that ministers are uneasy about a stoppage that runs into a summit week. Nothing in that wish has moved the strike.
The offer the unions have already rejected
The package on the table has been described in two ways that point at the same gap. RTE put the rejected pay rises at 7.75 per cent over two and a half years, starting with 1.75 per cent from 1 November 2026 and 5 per cent across 2027 and 2028, plus a further 1 per cent for local bargaining. The Irish Times described it as 6.75 per cent plus 1 per cent local. Either reading is short of the last agreement. RTE put that deal at 10.25 per cent over a similar period. The Irish Times put it at 9.25 per cent plus 1 per cent local. It expired at the end of June.
Thursday 12 November, If Nothing Moves
- Rallies from noon to 2pm in eight towns and cities. No picket-line plan.
- Dublin may see a march from O'Connell Street towards Government Buildings.
- European leaders are in the capital the same day. Road closures are already planned.
- The rejected offer is short of the last deal, which was worth about 10 per cent.
- A work-to-rule is already in place and is due to tighten this week.
Kevin Callinan, general secretary of Forsa and chair of the public services committee, has said the unions will not accept a deal worth less than the one agreed in 2024. He has not set out a number of his own. The unions also want some of the extra pension contributions brought in after the financial crash to come down. Talks broke down last Friday night. Since then the work-to-rule has been tightened, and unions have talked about reviewing the derogations that let some staff work through the last strike. Emergency cover in key services is still promised. Schools would not be expected to teach. Many hospital appointments would move. After Thursday, Callinan has raised rolling action, paid from strike funds, taking sections out for a week at a time.
A summit city with a march in it
The Dublin rally is the one that collides with the summit. Logistics were still being settled on Thursday night, but the march under discussion runs from O'Connell Street to Government Buildings, through a city already planning road closures for the visiting leaders. The absence of pickets may let some buildings open, and non-members may go to work. About two-thirds of public and civil servants are in the unions. The point of the rallies is to put the members in the town centres, in daylight, on the day the cameras are there for someone else.
Thursday left the mediators in the building and the strike on the calendar. Friday is the day both sides can be in the same conversation again, if the unions take the meeting. A weekend deal is what ministers are hoping for. The eight lists of rally stewards are what the unions have actually published. Until a text exists that Callinan can put to a ballot, 12 November stands, and the summit date was chosen on purpose.