A fresh round of strikes in the new year looks increasingly likely as prospects fade for resolving public pay disputes ahead of Christmas.
The talks convened earlier this week by Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to discuss finances for a restored executive are scheduled to conclude today.
The DUP has said there is “some way to go” both in addressing the public finance issues and in its negotiations with the British government on the post-Brexit trade arrangements.
The £2.5bn financial package tabled by the British government earlier this week includes money to settle public sector pay claims and a new funding formula for public services.
All the party leaders have signalled that they believe the funding offer as it stands is inadequate.
Trade union Unison said yesterday that its public sector members will take industrial action on January 18, while bus and train drivers are due to strike this Friday and Saturday.
Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy yesterday called on the British government to immediately pay a lump sump to settle a public sector pay claim, rather than waiting for the return of the Stormont institutions.
“Why should workers have to wait for the DUP to decide if they are going to do power-sharing or not do power-sharing as to whether they will get a wage this year?” the former finance minister said.
DUP MLA Gordon Lyons said the funds that are being sought are no more than that provided to the other devolved administrations.
“We’re asking to be funded according to need, so that we can have public services comparable with the rest of the United Kingdom.”
The East Antrim MLA said his party was “not going to put any timelines” on efforts to restore the institutions.
Alliance MLA Andrew Muir said there was a risk the negotiations could drift over Christmas as he said public patience with the DUP has “run out”.
“We also need a clear message from the DUP that they are going to go back into the Assembly and the Executive. That will give us a much stronger basis upon which to argue to the UK government,” he said.
SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole said it would be “inexcusable” for the negotiations around a potential public-sector pay deal to “drag on beyond Christmas”.
“I think the bare minimum those public workers should expect is that before Christmas their politicians – those parties that are entitled to form an executive and a British government that has indulged this process for nearly two years – do the decent thing and conclude arrangements to get us back into Stormont.”
