Unions representing public service workers called for a one-day strike to highlight their opposition to the Government’s plan to introduce a pension levy.
At an informal cross-union meeting in Dublin yesterday the group said it would intensify its campaign against the levy and called on all public service unions to ballot their members for industrial action.
A statement from the trade union groups said "considerable annoyance" was expressed at the meeting at "the failure of the public services committee of Ictu to unequivocally call on member unions to ballot for industrial action immediately".
The Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) and the Public Service Executive Union (PSEU) will now join the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (Into), the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) and the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), in seeking a mandate from their members for the industrial action.
The group also called on members to support a demonstration organised by Ictu against the levy next Saturday. However, they also expressed anger at the failure of Ictu to call on its member unions to ballot for industrial action immediately.
Opposition to the levy centres on the view that it is a “selective public service tax”. The unions said the €2 billion the Government is seeking to gain from the levy could be achieved by taxing the assets of the super-rich.