PRIVATE SECTOR trade unions have said they are working on the assumption they are no longer involved in a process to negotiate a new national pay deal and will now begin lodging wage claims with individual companies.
Chairman of the private sector committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) Jerry Shanahan said the question of whether the Government issued an invitation for further talks was "a moot point".
Speaking after the committee adopted new guidelines for unions in lodging pay claims with employers, Mr Shanahan said the talks process was not adjourned but had collapsed last weekend.
"There would not be any point in bringing us back on the basis of where we finished on the last day. Something would have to change. The question of whether an invitation issues is a moot point at this stage. There is nothing that has created an environment where an invitation would be positively looked at this stage," he said.
Mr Shanahan said the pay deals for many thousands of workers had either expired or would run out over the coming weeks and months. "Workers expect us to lodge claims. Inflation has not stopped, price rises have not stopped," he said.
Mr Shanahan said the Government had also contributed to the breakdown in the pay talks. He said it had not brought forward measures sought by the unions on collective bargaining, agency workers and pensions: "If they had made substantial proposals in those areas, it would have coloured the thinking of unions on the pay side."
Mr Shanahan said that, following the breakdown of the national talks, unions had been waiting for the committee to produce guidelines on lodging claims.
Under the guidelines, unions are to seek flat-rate increases of €30 per week for low-paid workers and rises that match inflation - about 5 per cent - for those above this threshold. Unions will look for further rises in profitable companies.
Mr Shanahan said members and their representatives would decide which companies could pay increases and what alternative strategies had to be adopted in cases where the firm was facing difficulties or job security issues. "At the end of the day, responsibility will rest with the members. They will make the final decisions," he said.
Jack O'Connor, president of Siptu, said the claims lodged in the coming days and weeks would have to be those of the members as reflected by their elected representatives in the workplace. He said the question of whether this would result in industrial disputes was in the hands of employers.
The Ictu committee also predicted inflation for the year would be higher than the 4.3 per cent Department of Finance forecast. "The only realistic forecast is that, for 2008 as a whole, the consumer price index will average . . . 5 per cent," it said in a statement.