The second public sector strike planned for November 12 has been called off after talks went on until the early hours of the morning. 

The government had made a revised offer after discussions over the weekend, and gave the unions 48 hours to decide if they would accept it.

The revised offer that was made was 10.75% increase over the course of two years and nine months.

Talks went on until 4am on Wednesday morning, with Kevin Callinan confirming that the planned industrial action will be suspended.

The unions will now take the offer to their members where a vote will take place on whether or not the public sector workers also accept the offer.

Mr Callinan also said that the aim is to have the vote and an aggregate decision on the proposals early in the week beginning December 7.

Discussing the news on Newstalk Breakfast was Sean Defoe who explained how it all went down.

He said: "There was a greater offer put on the table by the government, that 10.75% offer, which is the one that has gone to be accepted here.

"So, obviously, that went to this higher up group, the group of three, if you like, that was overseeing or trying to get people back to the table and then there was pretty significant negotiation through yesterday to actually get it to where it is and to hammer out all those details.

"That's what we saw overnight. It is going to be 10.75% when local bargaining is taken into account.
The duration had to be agreed as well.

"I think the government initially wanted three years, [but] two years and nine months backdated to July 2026 when the old deal ran out is what they've agreed to expiring in March 2029.

"Not to get ahead of ourselves, [but] March 2029 will be two months ahead of local and European elections and six months ahead of a general election if things go to plan. So the unions have another bargaining chip for their next pay talks already."

The total cost of the package to the Exchequer will be €5.2 billion spread over five budgets according to Jack Chambers, across the 33 months of the deal.

Mr Defoe added that the planned payment methods are also "interesting" as "the payments are spread over eight different instalments".

He continued: "The first of those to be paid is on September 1, 2026. Now that will be obviously backdated to whenever this is agreed and the unions have said, I think, the second week of December is when they think there would be a very likely conclusion to the different ballots that they have to put forward.

"So you would imagine there would be a payment early in the new year to a lot of those people and then ranging so August 1, 2027, November 1, 2027 and so on.

"But the way they've structured it is interesting. So for some of them, just take for example the first payment, it would be a pay adjustment of 2% or a minimum payment of €1,200 whichever is greater.

"And that particular element is designed to help lower payer workers. So if you were someone who is on a lower wage, if you're on about €35k a year, you'll actually get a 3.4% increase in your wage in that particular payment."

Main image: Public sector workers on strike outside the council offices on Wood Quay Pic: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie