Employers and unions failed to narrow the gap between their respective positions yesterday in the first real exchange on a potential new pay deal.
The parties will meet again today when the talks are expected to focus on a range of non-pay matters such as pensions and childcare, before returning to the central issue tomorrow.
The talks were overshadowed by a renewed threat of industrial action by SIPTU members at Aer Rianta.
Following a meeting yesterday morning, the union's civil aviation branch said it had "instructed" the SIPTU president, Mr Jack O'Connor, to secure assurances from the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, on the future of Aer Rianta "without further delay".
Failing this, the branch would revisit its options, "which cannot exclude industrial action", it said.
However, entering the talks at Government Buildings, Mr O'Connor brushed aside the branch's statement and said he did not believe industrial action at Aer Rianta was imminent. The Government, he said, had made commitments on Aer Rianta "that I believe they intend to honour".
However, some union leaders, while acknowledging that the planned break-up of the airports company is a significant background issue, are concerned that it could deflect from the central topic of pay.
Mr Larry Broderick, general secretary of the Irish Bank Officials' Union, said there was a need for the talks to focus on the concerns of workers in the private sector.
"The issue of ownership of public services is important, but we must also remain focused on the fact that trade-union members expect these talks to deliver real, tangible benefits, measured in euros and cents," he said.
Mr Broderick said his union would be seeking a 7 per cent pay increase over 18 months, as well as a local bargaining clause.
Such a clause would enable workers in highly profitable sectors of the economy to negotiate "top-up" pay increases.
There was no such provision in the existing pay deal, which covered the first 18 months of the Sustaining Progress partnership programme.
"In our own sector, financial institutions report billion-euro profits, yet the people who generate the profits, the staff, are prevented from benefiting through the absence of a local bargaining clause," Mr Broderick said.
It is unlikely, however, that the employers' body, IBEC, would agree to such a clause in the current talks. It is also opposed to union demands for an increase in the minimum wage and a special, flat-rate increase of perhaps €20 a week for workers on low pay.
It is understood that both of these issues were discussed yesterday. One source at the talks, however, said there had been "a lot of posturing" but little real engagement.
Employers repeated their insistence that retaining jobs and maintaining competitiveness must be the key objectives of the talks, which can only be achieved through wage moderation.
IBEC argues that the 7 per cent pay increase agreed for the first 18 months of Sustaining Progress means that the pay deal was, in effect, "front-loaded" in favour of workers. This is in reference to the fact that inflation has fallen dramatically since that deal was negotiated early last year.
During yesterday's discussions, unions did not specify a pay demand, but they are likely to seek an increase of about 7 per cent.
There may be some scope for the Government to help bridge the gap through tax adjustments that would take some workers out of the tax net and remove others from the top tax band.