Labour Party: The Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, described the scrapping of benchmarking as "unthinkable".
Speaking at the party's parliamentary meeting in Wexford, Mr Rabbitte said it was "unthinkable to renege on essentially what was a commitment freely entered into by Government".
There was an obligation on Government to deliver, he said. "But there is also an obligation on the trade unions to deliver better services in return," he added.
While his speech yesterday identified the need for greater co-operation between political parties, he said it was not his role to lecture other parties.
"It is for Fine Gael to respond to issues as they feel appropriate," he said. "The construction of an alternative government may be four years down the line."
Any alternative government would have Labour and Fine Gael at its core, and a meeting of minds on policy would be a prerequisite to that, he said.
Labour Party TDs are in discussion with colleagues in Fine Gael and the Green Party on details of a no-confidence motion in relation to the Laffoy controversy.
Mr Rabbitte also spoke of the need for further co-operation between opposition parties during the next Dáil session.
"We must face the need to work closely with others to create a sense in the community at large that there is an alternative Government available to the people of this country.
"And we need to be able to demonstrate that such an alternative government can not only be viable in terms of numbers but also in terms of fresh ideas giving expression to decent, constant values."
Last night, Labour's chef de cabinet, Mr Fergus Finlay, presented a paper outlining socio-economic trends in Ireland, based on research by the party during the summer.