EMPLOYERS AND unions say it will be difficult to secure agreement on a national pay deal in the new week-long intensive talks that are to start on Monday.
Union leaders and employers' representatives yesterday agreed to take part in the new process at a meeting convened by Taoiseach Brian Cowen.
However, emerging from the talks at Government Buildings both employers' group Ibec and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) remained divided on a number of key issues and warned that concluding a deal would not be easy.
Previous talks on a national pay deal collapsed just over a month ago when unions rejected proposals for increases of 5 per cent phased over 21 months.
These proposals would also have involved a pay pause of six months for most workers. However for those in the public sector and in construction this would have run for 11 months and 12 months respectively.
Ibec director general Turlough O'Sullivan said a "big gap" remained between the parties. He said "it is a very difficult situation in which we find ourselves".
He urged that the social partners work together in the national interest as they had done in the past.
Ictu general secretary David Begg said he was not confident that there would be a deal reached by next weekend, and warned of the difficulties of selling any agreement. However, the unions would do their best. If the right terms could be agreed then it was "manifestly better" to have a partnership agreement.
He said there were three categories of issues that remained outstanding. These were pay and associated matters; issues that remained as a legacy from the previous social partnership deal such as pensions and employment rights legislation; and new topics such as collective bargaining rights in non-union companies.
"It is a pretty complex agenda and everybody is pretty well versed about it. Not all of the issues will get sorted. The question is can we move them far enough ahead and put them on a conveyor belt that ultimately they will get solved so that the principles are not going to be up in the air at the end of the process."
It is understood that there were no negotiations between the parties at the talks yesterday, although an "audit" of the various outstanding issues was set out.
The Government did not give any indication of its stance on public service pay or employment levels in the light of the deteriorating exchequer finances.
Neither did the Government give any signal of any proposals it could bring to the table in a bid to bridge the gap between unions and employers such as measures to assist the low paid or action on collective bargaining rights.
Unions are looking for increases of more than 5 per cent to apply over a shorter duration than the 21 months set out in the failed talks in July.
They also want specific cash increases for low-paid workers, although this has been rejected by employers as it would impact on competitiveness in sectors of the economy with large numbers of lower -paid staff.
Employers are also insisting that a pay pause is necessary. Ibec has argued that this should run for up to a year for public servants with secure employment.
The head of the Construction Industry Federation, Tom Parlon, indicated that it would not be going back on its position in the previous talks that there should also be a 12-month pay pause in this sector.
Signalling a possible shift, however, Mr O'Sullivan said that employers would also have to "share the pain" in any new deal.
"If we are to get a national agreement, everybody involved, including employers, will have to show good example and leadership."
Mr Begg was sceptical about the Ibec position, and said he saw "squadrons of pigs flying by in the sky".