The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, David Begg, has warned that the trade unions will not accept a modest wage increase in the national pay talks which are due to begin on Thursday.
Mr Begg said that Congress had become pre-occupied with the large gap opening up between high earners and ordinary workers in recent years.
Mr Begg today launched an ICTU economic policy document in advance of the pay talks.
He said that inflation was expected to remain high and that workers would need to be compensated for that, as well as for improvements in productivity.
Mr Begg also said that ICTU had been forced to adopt a defensive strategy in relation to the pay talks in order to ensure that gains made by workers in recent years did not unravel. In particular, he said, the issue of pensions provisions was back on the agenda.
He said he believed a new State-based mandatory pensions scheme linked to workers' incomes was now needed to ensure adequate protection for ordinary workers in retirement.
Mr Begg also said Congress was particularly concerned about the erosion of workers' rights though the exploitation of agency workers. The use of such workers can enable employers to undermine employee conditions as well enabling employers to by-pass discrimination legislation, according to ICTU. Mr Begg said this must be tackled in the social partnership pay negotiations.
The ICTU general secretary also said it would be seeking changes to industrial relations law that would enshrine the legal basis for collective bargaining, which he said had been undermined by recent High Court decisions in relation to Ryanair and the Irish Hotels Federation.
