The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has rejected last Friday's request by employers to defer payment of the national wage increases for a year.
After a two-hour meeting of the ICTU executive council this afternoon, general secretary David Begg said that the national agreement had enough mechanisms to help firms that could not afford to pay - and there was no sign that those mechanisms had failed.
He described IBEC's seeking a blanket deferral of the agreement without sufficient grounds as opportunistic.
Mr Begg said it was up to IBEC to decide whether they wanted to remain as part of the framework of the national agreement or not. He said that if they did not, it would obviously complicate matters.
He said the Government would not be able to reach agreement with unions within the framework of Towards 2016 if other parties were departing the scene as quickly as they could.
Earlier, IBEC said the criticism it had received from unions over its proposal to defer the national wage agreement was rhetoric, Director general Turlough O'Sullivan insisted that it was in the country's best interests for all sides to reach a deal.
The ICTU negotiators returned to Government Buildings this evening for further talks with officials.
It is understood that unions felt that the framework document presented to them this morning was far too vague. They say that they need to see 'concrete' indications of how parties other than workers would be contributing to national recovery.
Meanwhile, business group Chambers Ireland has called for all income generated from the tax on second properties to be shared between central government and local authorities. In a recent submission to Government, the body called for the €200 levy to be increased.
