Intensive negotiations on a new pay deal are to begin early next week following a meeting yesterday of union, employer and Government representatives.
At the three-hour meeting in Government Buildings the parties agreed to begin detailed talks on Tuesday and to continue discussions on a daily basis in an attempt to reach agreement.
Following the meeting the president of SIPTU, Mr Jack O'Connor, said that the needs of lower-paid workers would be at the top of the unions' agenda in the talks.
The employers' body, IBEC, is opposed to union demands for a minimum flat-rate increase for those on low pay. This kind of increase was included in previous agreements, but there was no such provision in the 18-month agreement negotiated in January last year.
A 7 per cent increase in three phases was agreed at that time, to cover the first 18 months of the three-year Sustaining Progress partnership programme.
Mr O'Connor said that "ground lost in the relative position of lower-paid workers" during the first half of Sustaining Progress needed to be recovered in the second half. The improved economic environment should allow for a return to the provision of minimum flat-rate increases for workers on low pay, he added.
Mandate, which represents employees in the retail trade, says workers should be guaranteed an increase of at least €20 a week.
However, IBEC plans to resist such demands and will insist on low percentage increases. It says the focus in the talks should be on protecting jobs by ensuring that the Irish economy remains competitive.
As well as demanding a flat-rate increase, SIPTU will be seeking an increase in the current minimum wage of €7 an hour, Mr O'Connor indicated.
He pointed out that when the minimum wage was introduced in April 2000 the rate of £4.40 (€5.59) an hour represented 54 per cent of the average industrial wage. To maintain the same pro-rata relationship, the rate should currently be €7.54 an hour, and it should be increased to €8 next May, he said.
"But even with the inadequacy of the minimum wage, as it stands, it is not properly promoted, policed and enforced. Immigrant workers have been particularly exploited in this regard as unscrupulous employers have sought to cut standards generally," Mr O'Connor said.
