THE COUNTRY'S second largest trade union, Unite, says it will be seeking increases "substantially above inflation" in the forthcoming national pay talks.
Unite regional secretary Jimmy Kelly said yesterday that private-sector wage levels in Ireland were 25 per cent below the average among the 10 wealthiest nations in the European Union, and that this was borne out by official statistics.
He said the union would be looking in the pay talks for a flat-rate monetary increase, as distinct from a percentage increase, for lower-paid groups. It will also be seeking that provision be made in any agreement for local bargaining negotiations for additional rises for workers in profitable companies. Unite has not put an exact figure on the increases it will be seeking. It said this would be an issue to be determined in the talks.
A new Unite report comes as the country's main unions are to decide their position on entering planned new national pay talks.
The country's largest trade union, Siptu, is to hold a special meeting today to decide on whether it should take part while the Irish Congress of Trade Union (Ictu), which represents more than 50 unions, is to consider the issue on Thursday.
In its discussions paper on pay published yesterday, Unite said international data bases and figures published by the Central Statistics Office showed that Irish workers were paid considerably less than most of their European counterparts. "Rather than being paid too much, Irish workers are paid too little and have a long ways to go before reaching even European averages, never mind levels that exist in advanced economies."
It said Ireland stood at the bottom of the list of the average wages paid in the private sector across the 10 wealthiest countries in the EU.
Unite said its analysis had found that, unquestionably, Ireland was a relatively low-waged country.
"Irish wages are below the EU-15 average, coming in at the bottom half of the EU-15 table. Irish wages are also nearly 25 per cent below the average wage levels in our peer group - the 10 wealthiest EU countries. When account is taken of living standards, Irish wages fall even further down the EU-15 table.
"Employers' payroll (PRSI) costs are the lowest in the EU. If there are problems with our competitiveness, they have little, if anything, to do with wage levels."
The report said that in 2006, the median wage for the private sector was €13.82 per hour.
"That's . . . less than €29,000 per year. That's nearly 9 per cent below the average industrial wage. Half of the entire private sector workforce - over 600,000 workers - earn substantially below the average industrial wage. That puts Irish wage levels in perspective."