Siptu National Executive Council has authorised ballots by members for industrial action and strike action, on public service pay.

The union had flagged its intention to begin a ballot unless the Government announced a timeline for talks on pay by today.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions had asked Siptu to defer the proposed ballot to allow talks to take place.

Following that request by Congress, Siptu will ask their negotiating committees to ballot no earlier than December 1.

This follows a request to defer a decision for two weeks to allow exploratory talks.

In a statement issued this evening, Siptu said it had recommended acceptance of extremely hard choices during the difficult years since the economic collapse, but had always made it clear that they would take action to regain lost ground when circumstances changed.

Siptu is the country’s largest trade union, with 60,000 public sector members.