Ireland promises to end pay cuts to avert strikes

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish government agreed with trade union leaders on Tuesday that it will not cut public sector pay further for the next four years to try to avert strikes and end work-to-rule protests.

Lower-paid civil servants, teachers and hospital staff have threatened to strike in protest at the government's fiscal reforms, which they say have caused real hardship.

But the cut-backs have helped Ireland to win back investor confidence compared with other heavily indebted euro zone members and opinion polls have shown little sympathy for any escalation in a series of low-key protests.

The lead negotiator of the trade unions' umbrella group said the deal offered a real chance to end the disruption, which has consisted of refusing to answer phones and early office closures, following on from November's one-day all-out strike.

He expected all unions would put the agreement to a ballot.

"The outcome presents everybody in the public service with the real possibility that we can find an alternative to the industrial conflict that has dominated the landscape in recent months," the Irish Congress Of Trade Union's (ICTU) Peter McLoone told national broadcaster RTE.

Public service salaries were reduced by 5 to 15 percent to achieve a quarter of the 4 billion euros (3.58 billion pounds) saved in last December's budget.