Pay claims by thousands of building workers are expected, following the success of crane drivers in achieving a rise of almost 50 per cent in their hourly rate.
Industry sources have confirmed that almost half the State's 300 crane drivers have secured an incentive bonus worth about £180 a week in negotiations with employers at local level.
The increase of £3 an hour will raise the basic pay of crane drivers from £6.25p to £9.25p, or over £2 an hour more than the minimum craft-workers' rate for the construction industry. Because they were negotiated locally, the crane drivers' agreements are not technically a breach of the Registered Employment Agreement for the industry, but they are certain to provoke follow-on claims.
Thousands of other workers such as scaffolders and steel-fixers are expected to seek similar increases because they have had a traditional relativity with crane drivers. Scaffolders have already indicated they will be doing so. These in turn will fuel claims by craft-workers anxious to maintain differentials.
Under the local agreements, crane drivers will receive an extra hour's pay each day for "greasing" time at the basic rate of £6.25p. Overtime will continue to be calculated on the basis of the £6.25p. The £3 incentive bonus will be worth £180 a week for the drivers, most of whom work at least 60 hours.
They are members of SIPTU. The union's construction branch secretary, Mr Eric Fleming, defended the increases yesterday, saying the job had become increasingly responsible and dangerous. "If we are in a boom, pay rates should be commensurate with that boom and not languishing the way they were doing during the recession," he said.