METRO FREE Thursday, October 22, 2009 Win! Tickets to see Whitney in Dublin See Page 12 HELP METRO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT. RECYCLE THIS NEWSPAPER TODAY INSIDE TODAY Starts on Page 16 metro extralife Our new Classifieds section Today: Cork Jazz Festival ++ OutofOffice ++ Property&Letting THE Government and unions look to be on a collision course after the Taoiseach and Finance Minister both confirmed yesterday they would try to cut public- sector pay and social welfare spending rather than increasing or bringing in new taxes in Decembers budget. In private discussions, the Government also told unions it wants to cut more than 2.5billion from its pay and welfare bill. Finance Minister Brian Lenihan told a lunch for chartered accountants the Government has no plans for new taxes other than a carbon tax under what he called wartime conditions. His comments came as 55,000 public servants were put on strike footing. Impact trade union members voted overwhelm- ingly in favour of stoppages if their pay is threat- ened, claiming State employees were being lined up for a second salary hit in just eight months. A day of mass action has already been planned by union umbrella group Congress for November 6, and several unions are also expected to come together for other campaigns. Impact general secretary Peter McLoone claimed the Government had refused to consider a package of radical public-sector reform to save money. Our members dont want strikes or the disrup- tion they will bring, but the Governments refusal to consider alternatives means strikes now seem inevitable as public servants seek to defend what they have left, Mr McLoone said. Speaking in the Dil yesterday, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said: The idea that nothing can be touched in two thirds of expenditure in the public purse is not a realistic starting point from which to address the scale of the problems we face. BY CON DOHERTY Wartimebudget to cut public pay Artist Kevin Atherton stands in front of his mirrored ball, entitled Another Sphere, in Balcurris Park, Ballymun. The work is part of Ballymun Regenerations Per Cent For Art programme, which sees big developments foot some of the cost of public art projects. Breaking Ground will launch a guide and exhibition covering commissions from 2002 to 2009 Picture: Jason Clarke mIRROR, mIRROR ON ThE bAll index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html