Unions representing more than 100,000 construction workers are to back a national protest next month over redundancy payment levels.
Tens of thousands of workers are expected to take part in the half-day protest in Dublin and a number of other locations on Friday, October 4th.
The action is being organised to demand an increase in statutory redundancy payments, which currently provide for half-a-week's pay per year of service for workers aged under 41, and a week's pay for every year of service over that age.
The construction industry committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which represents more than 100,000 workers, yesterday announced it would be supporting the protest.
Mr Tommy White, the committee chairman, said the issue was particularly relevant for construction workers, almost all of whom were in temporary employment.
"Even where construction workers are employed for maybe three or four years on a large project they have no fixed term of employment and there is no statutory provision for redundancy payments in the industry," he said.
The action is being organised by four unions, SIPTU, the TEEU, BATU and UCATT, and is supported by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions, which represents 29 unions in the capital.
It was sparked by the refusal of a number of firms, including the Irish Glass Bottle Company in Dublin, and Peerless Rugs in Athy, Co Kildare, to pay redundancy terms recommended by the Labour Court to workers who lost their jobs.
Unions claim jobs would be saved if statutory redundancy terms were increased, making it more expensive for companies to pay workers off.
The employers' representative body, IBEC, said it would not support a measure which would increase mandatory costs on employers, in the current economic climate.
The Government said any change in statutory redundancy levels would have to be negotiated in discussions on a successor to the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
