An increase in the ceiling on redundancy payments to €600 a week has been agreed in the new national pay deal, which was finalised yesterday.
More labour inspectors, to combat exploitation of vulnerable workers, are also to be appointed as part of the agreement, which will be announced by the Government today.
Steps to address problems with pension funds and to create more job opportunities for people with disabilities, as well as a review of parental leave entitlements, are also included in the package. There is also to be an increase in maternity benefit, as reported in The Irish Times last week.
If the deal is ratified by unions and employers, most workers will receive a pay increase of 5.5 per cent, in three phases, over the remaining 18 months of the Sustaining Progress partnership programme. Workers earning €351 a week or less, or up to €9 an hour, will receive an additional half per cent rise.
The pay elements were agreed last Friday at the end of a 29-hour negotiating session in Government Buildings, attended by employer, union and Government representatives.
Agreement on a range of additional items, however, was not finalised until yesterday afternoon, clearing the way for the full package to be unveiled today.
The ceiling on redundancy payments, currently €507 per week, is to be increased to €600 from January 1st next.
Maternity benefit is to be restored, over the next year-and-a-half, to its previous level of 80 per cent of the recipient's normal pay, from the current 70 per cent.
A small increase in the number of labour inspectors, from the current 17, is to be accompanied by a wide-ranging review of the employment rights area.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is to consult with the social partners on issues such as the mandate and resourcing of its labour inspectorate.
This has been a contentious issue for some time, with unions accusing the Department of failing to provide the inspectorate with the resources needed to combat abuses of low-paid employees.
They claim the Department has, in particular, failed to take account of the dramatic increase in recent years of migrant workers, many of whom are vulnerable to exploitation.
The operation of joint labour committees, which set minimum legal pay rates for different sectors, is also to be reviewed as part of the deal completed yesterday.
The agreement also reaffirms a commitment given by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to unions last year that they would be consulted in detail, and "from the earliest appropriate time", about possible changes in the semi-State sector.
Unions have frequently pointed to this commitment in their ongoing discussions with the Government on the future of Aer Rianta and CIÉ.
In a section on disability, the deal provides for a new policy aimed at boosting recruitment of people with disabilities to the Civil Service to be implemented by autumn 2004.
In the private sector, a plan to increase the number of people with disabilities in open employment is to be developed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The plan is to be in place before the end of 2004, in time for it to be catered for in the 2005 Estimates.
The Department is also to consult the social partners on the preparation of the national employment action plan on issues such as skills enhancement and the barriers to labour force participation.
