THE STATE'S largest trade union is to recommend to its members that they should accept the proposed national pay deal in a ballot that starts today.
Siptu president Jack O'Connor said the union's national executive council had decided unanimously yesterday to urge members that they should not forgo the possibility of enhancing employment rights and improving pay generally just because of unacceptable aspects of the Budget.
He said that if members rejected the deal, they would still be stuck with "unsavoury" provisions in the Budget.
Mr O'Connor said there was "great anger" at specific measures in the Budget such as the income levy, medical card restrictions and the education cuts, as well as at its overall general thrust.
He said that the view of the union's executive was that the Budget ran counter to the principles of social justice and the broad thrust of the Towards 2016 national agreement.
Mr O'Connor said Siptu would continue to campaign against the application of the income levy, the medical card restrictions and the education cuts.
He said that none of these issues had been addressed properly by the Government despite the controversy following the Budget.
"We still do not have universal coverage of medical cards restored. The 1 per cent levy should not apply to incomes of less than average industrial earnings (€38,000) and the education cuts issues still remains out there," he said.
However Mr O'Connor maintained that the issue facing the union's executive was whether to allow members concerns in relation to these issues to influence the decision on the pay proposition.
"If workers decide to reject the proposition, it will mean that all the employment protection legislation that is enshrined in the proposition which is critical to shoring up employment rights . . . will go and we will still have all the unsavoury aspects of the Budget," he said.
Mr O'Connor also said that a rejection would mean the union having to try to negotiate a deal on an employment-by-employment basis in a difficult environment.
The trade union Mandate, which represents low-paid workers in the hospitality and retail sectors, also recommended that its members should accept the proposed deal in a ballot.
Following a special delegate conference yesterday, Mandate general secretary John Douglas said: "In the current economic climate, it is difficult to imagine that it would be possible to achieve a better outcome . . . with individual companies."
However, he said that concerns raised by delegates indicated that the deal could be in jeopardy if Government did not go further in excluding low-paid workers from the 1 per cent income levy.
"While excluding those on the minimum wage from the income levy is obviously to be welcomed, this does not protect enough vulnerable families from the prospect of poverty," he said.