Trade unionists would have to focus on the "social wage" rather than gross pay in any talks on a new national agreement, SIPTU's national equality officer, Ms Rosheen Callender, told delegates.
A new national agreement would have to deliver "better pensions, childcare, eldercare and healthcare to workers in the 21st century".
She advised delegates against turning their backs on a negotiating process which had proved productive in the past. "Partnership 2000 has delivered on virtually all commitments to women workers and on the various tax, welfare and other commitments that carried a price tag. Where it fell down was in areas without specific policy detail or monetary commitments.
"Next time, if there is a next time, we must write in more clearly-defined social objectives and financial commitments in the non-pay areas."
Speaking during a debate on the priorities for any future national agreement, she said that union officials would have to broaden their understanding of areas such as employment law, pensions, taxation, sexual harassment and bullying if they were to continue to play a central role in the "march to a better society for us all".