A four-day working week, pay, remote working and artificial intelligence (AI) are among the topics under debate at the biennial conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), which is under way in Belfast.
More than 600 union representatives from across the island of Ireland are participating in the three-day conference.
A motion from the Dublin Council of Trade Unions on the introduction of a four-day working week will call on ICTU to seek the support of the Government and wider society to reduce the 39-hour week to a 32-hour week with no loss of pay for all workers.
On remote working, a motion from the Financial Services Union (FSU) calls on ICTU to establish a grouping of relevant unions to study the effectiveness of the current 'Right to Request Remote Working' code and to make any recommendations it deems necessary to ensure the code is fit for purpose.
Another resolution from the FSU calls on employers to establish AI adoption frameworks that involve workers and trade unions in decision-making.
On the issue of pay, a motion from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) states that the benefits of future public sector pay agreements should be confined to workers represented by unions.
"Therefore when agreed, the terms and conditions contained therein apply solely to the members of the signatory trade unions," the motion states.
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Other issues to be discussed include the surveillance of journalists, increasing statutory redundancy rates, higher pay for apprentices, the promotion of collective bargaining, the protection of retail staff from abuse, the scrapping of the sub-minimum wage for younger workers and pension increases.
ICTU will also launch proposals for a new economic model designed to end Ireland's overreliance on corporate tax windfalls.
The model, developed by the Nevin Economic Research Institute, is based on four pillars: a productive economy, quality employment, economic security and economic resilience.
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The plan would see the Government investing in strategic infrastructure, backing collective bargaining and supporting domestic enterprise.
"We cannot continue with the same risky overreliance on corporation tax receipts," said ICTU General Secretary Owen Reidy.
He said that "now is the time to decide what we want our future to look like".
"Our New Economic Model sets out a clear framework for a productive, stable, and supportive economy, one that places workers at the heart of economic resilience," Mr Reidy added.
In his address to the ICTU conference, the General Secretary of the Fórsa trade union Kevin Callinan said Ireland must learn the hard lessons of the Covid pandemic by radically expanding the role and capacity of the State.
He told delegates that the country will remain vulnerable to future global shocks without a decisive shift in economic strategy and public policy.
"The time has come to reject failed pre-2020 models based on privatisation, short-term thinking, and chronic underinvestment in public services," Mr Callinan said.
"These outdated approaches hollowed out the State's ability to respond to the pandemic, and they continue to undermine our preparedness for the future," he added.
