Leaders of two of the State's biggest unions have advised members to vote against accepting the new national pay deal, writes Chris Dooley, Industry and Employment Correspondent.
Mandate and the Irish Nurses' Organisation announced yesterday they were recommending rejection of the agreement, which offers most workers a 5.5 per cent pay increase over 18 months. Those earning €351 or less per week, or a maximum of €9 an hour, are to receive an additional half per cent.
That was not enough to persuade Mandate leaders, who had sought a €20 a week increase for the lower paid, to support the deal.
A flat rate increase for low earners was a key demand of the union, which has 40,000 members. Many of them work in low-paid, retail jobs.
The union held a special delegate conference in Dublin yesterday, at which a large majority voted to recommend rejection of the deal, which now goes to a ballot of members.
Mr Brendan Archbold, a national official with the union, said Mandate had campaigned for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to get low pay on to the agenda at the talks.
Congress had achieved that, but the outcome had not gone far enough to address the needs of members. "Phased increases of 1.5 and 2.5 per cent are fairly insignificant for someone earning €300 to €400 a week," he said.
Mandate has traditionally opposed national pay deals and also voted against the first phase of the Sustaining Progress agreement. The Irish Nurses' Organisation, however, supported the first phase 18 months ago. Its decision to recommend rejection on this occasion is therefore a setback for supporters of the deal.
Between them the two unions will control about 13 per cent of the vote to be cast at a special ICTU conference in September, when unions meet to decide whether to ratify the deal.
The INO's executive council said yesterday that the deal had failed to adequately address a number of issues of concern to members.
These included what it said was the failure of employers to implement Labour Court recommendations relating to working hours, shift premiums and a pay anomaly in the intellectual disability sector.
Degree level nurses in that sector were paid less than other staff, some of whom were unqualified and were required to report to the nurses concerned, said the union's general secretary, Mr Liam Doran. The proposed new deal, he added, would see this practice continue for another three years.