SIPTU says it will call for mandatory contributions from employers' to pension plans if the Government's voluntary scheme fails to achieve a target of 70 per cent coverage by 2006.
SIPTU President, Mr Jack O'Connor, today criticised employers for failing to respond to new pension initiatives and accused some "of pocketing the PRSI savings which accrue as a consequence of employees contributing to PRSAs".
Mr O'Connor called for tax incentives to encourage people to shift their SSIA savings into longer-term retirement funds without incurring any penalties.
He said: "This would have the added benefit of reducing the inflationary impact of a consumer spending splurge in 2006 and 2007."
Mr O'Connor said the State should consider encouraging people to start contributing to a pension much earlier in life by setting up pension accounts into which initial 'start-up' contributions would be lodged, either at birth or at the time when payment of Child Benefit ceases.
He said 2005 was "crunch-time" for the current national approach to pensions policy.
He warned: "If there is not a dramatic improvement in pension coverage between now and 2006 SIPTU will demand mandatory employers' contributions to occupational pension schemes".
However business lobby groups such as IBEC contend mandatory pension contributions by employers would have a negative impact on industry and cost jobs in the long run.
Despite a number of campaigns to encourage people to save for retirement, pension coverage has risen only marginally over the last two years.
According to the latest quarterly national household survey, just over half of those in employment had pension coverage in the first quarter of 2004, slightly higher than the 51.2 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2002.
