Unions should begin to draw up plans for a "free for all" in the autumn, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Dave Begg, has said.
Today he will outline plans for unions to negotiate at local level with employers, not just on pay but on issues such as childcare, parental leave, educational leave and the creation of "stress-free work environments", when he addresses the Mandate biennial conference in Tralee.
Mr Begg, who has strongly defended national agreements and still believes the social partnership model should be continued, conceded that "as of now, the balance of probability seems to be against its continuation".
Citing recent statements from the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation, as well as the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, Mr Begg said: "Prudence requires that we prepare for a return to enterprise level and direct government pay bargaining.
"While it is up to officials of individual unions to negotiate, some guidance from Congress would probably be desirable. I recommend that the Congress private and public service committees proceed to prepare guidelines for negotiation over the summer. In the autumn we can consider the size of claims to be submitted in the light of prevailing economic conditions."
Decentralised bargaining would also allow unions more opportunities to recruit new members, Mr Begg said, particularly in small firms and the services sector where Exchequer returns suggested many unorganised workers face wage cuts.
His comments should receive a welcome response from Mandate members, who voted to reject the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
Since the beginning of the month, when IBEC's director general, Mr Turlough O'Sullivan, questioned the continued value of national agreements because of rising wage expectations, there have been strong signals from union leaders that they are also rethinking their position.
One of the most trenchant critics of the PPF, the SIPTU vice-president Mr Jack O'Connor, told the union's conference of rail workers on Friday that IBEC wanted to "marginalise" unions.
At the opening session of Mandate's conference yesterday, its general secretary, Mr Owen Nulty, called on the Government to make it mandatory on employers to provide "realistic" pension schemes.
Without them, he said, careers in the distributive and bar trades, where his own members were concentrated, would remain unattractive.