Aontú says leaders need to get real about cost pressures on families that are leading to protests and strikes.
Peadar Tóibín says hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will down tools this week, after failure of government to engage with them constructively on pay concerns.
The Aontú leader has lent his support to nurses, teachers and civil servants, who are now set to go ahead with the first of two 24-hour strikes on Wednesday, after a failure to engage on pay issues.
He said: “The unions want to talk about pay and cost of living, which is the priority of everyone in this country at the moment, and the issue that comes top of concerns in all polls.
“Everyone knows this is the biggest issue for workers, but government don’t want to talk about it and want to talk about reforms first. Negotiations didn’t even happen before these strikes, which are going ahead just a week after the budget was delivered.
“Public sector workers want rises in line with inflation, which is a a fair ask and should be negotiated.
“Aontú supports those hard workers around the country who are being hit hard due the rising costs of energy bills, food costs, fuel prices and rents.
“They didn’t listen to the fuel protesters and now they are not engaging with the public sector workers. They need to get real on this.”
