RENEWED TALKS on a national pay deal which began yesterday are expected to concentrate on non-pay issues such as collective bargaining rights in non-union companies for the early part of the process.
Trade unions and employer representatives met separately with Government officials and are likely to do so again today. However, on the key issues of pay, particularly for lower-paid workers, trade unions and employers would appear to be as far apart as ever.
Arriving at the talks in Government Buildings, some union leaders as well as senior representatives of the employers' organisation Ibec said that they were not optimistic that a deal could be concluded.
The general secretary of the trade union Mandate, which represents bar and retail sector staff, said there would be no new pay deal unless there was special provision made for the low paid.
He said that low-paid workers had no "wriggle room" for compromise and that a way was going to have to be found to address the problems they faced in areas such as rising food and fuel prices.
Mandate is seeking flat-rate increases for low-paid staff, a move which was backed by the union representing lower grade civil servants, the CPSU.
However, this was ruled out by Brendan McGinty, the director of industrial relations at Ibec.
He said that there was no doubt that low pay was a difficult issue in the talks. But he said that the unions had argued that low pay related to workers who were earning less than the average industrial wage of €38,000.
"That is taking in a very wide swathe of the Irish working population. It is simply not credible in the current environment where employers are under the kind of stress that they are in sectors where they are most exposed whether it be in manufacturing, retail or hospitality.
"An agreement on additional increases for the low paid is simply not tenable in this environment," he said. Mr McGinty said that everyone was going to have to take pain in the current circumstances and he said that compared to the situation in the country's main trading partners Irish workers were "well paid by any standards".
He said that average earnings for Irish workers were about 17 per cent higher than those of their counterparts in the EU while Ireland had the second highest minimum wage rate.
"Low pay is relative," he said.
Ibec again urged that there should be a pay pause in the public sector and indicated that this should apply across the board and not just above a certain threshold of earnings.
President of Siptu Jack O'Connor said that unions would do their best to reach a deal, but that if the talks were only about "insulating business profits" then it would not be achieved.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said he would be available to assist the parties. Asked if he was more optimistic about a successful outcome this time around, he said there was a growing realisation that there were a lot of pressures in the economy.