A 7 per cent pay increase over 18 months, as well as initiatives on housing, the minimum wage and statutory redundancy, have been proposed by the Government in an attempt to secure a new partnership deal.
The proposals emerged following the intervention last night of the Taoiseach and senior Cabinet Ministers in the talks between unions and employers at Government Buildings.
Union leaders were considering their response to the proposals, drawn up by Mr Ahern, the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, as talks continued early today.
The proposals were not made public. However, The Irish Times has learned that on pay, the Government proposed a 7 per cent increase over 18 months in three phases - 3 per cent after nine months, 2 per cent after a further six months and the final 2 per cent at the end.
The proposals also include a six-month pay pause for public servants, mirroring that demanded by employers in the private sector.
The seven-point Government plan proposes a significant increase in statutory redundancy payments, to two weeks pay per year of service for all workers.
At present, workers receive only a half-week's pay for each year under the age of 41, and a week for each year after that. Funding from the National Development Finance Agency has been promised to help provide additional affordable housing, while the minimum wage would be increased from €6.35 per hour to €7 per hour by February next year.
Full payment of the increases for public servants recommended by the benchmarking body by June 2005 is also promised in the document.
It was not clear early today whether the pay proposals had the backing of the employers' body, IBEC, but it is thought likely this is the case.
Mr Ahern and his colleagues, who held a meeting last night at a venue away from Government Buildings, hoped the initiative would break the logjam on pay which threatened continuation of the partnership process.
Some progress had been made on two other critical issues, union recognition and the employers' insistence on strict measures to ensure compliance. However, final agreement on both issues was proving elusive. On pay, there was still no narrowing of the gap between both sides. However, Mr Turlough O'Sullivan of the employers' body, IBEC, and Mr David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, left the talks briefly to announce they would keep negotiating as long as agreement remained possible.
