TALKS BETWEEN unions, employers and the Government on a new national pay deal are expected to enter their final phase today.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night determined that sufficient progress had been made over recent days to warrant a final push for a deal over the weekend.
The employers’ group Ibec and Larry Broderick of the Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) said yesterday that they were not optimistic about an agreement being reached.
However, other union figures estimated that there was a 70/30 chance of a deal being struck, while some Government figures have said the prospects were still very much in the balance.
Government sources said last night that Mr Cowen had urged employers and unions to reflect on the merits of having a new social partnership deal as against the implications of not having one. While he wanted a new deal, it could not come at any price.
Sources said that the Government would act as a facilitator in the talks but indicated that it would not be bringing a special package of measures to the table in a bid to secure an agreement.
Publicly, at least, unions and employers are as far apart as ever on a number of key issues such as pay, any pay pause that may apply, and collective bargaining rights in non-union companies.
Unions are seeking flat-rate increases for the low-paid, but this has been opposed by employers. The unions have signalled that they could live with lower-than-inflation rises if measures to protect the low-paid were included.
Unions are also opposed to any pay pause in the private sector.
Employers are seeking a six-month pay pause for most private sector workers and a 12-month pay pause in construction.
Employers have urged the Government to introduce a 12-month pay pause in the public sector.
Talks in July collapsed after unions rejected proposals for a 5 per cent increase to be phased over 21 months.
This proposal would also have involved a six-month pay pause for most private sector workers. This would also have run for 11 months in the public sector and for 12 months in the construction sector.
Highly-placed sources said that the key issues which could determine success or failure in the talks were increases for the low-paid and the issue of collective bargaining in non-union companies.
It is understood that one possible proposal being considered would see the Government introducing legislation to ban victimisation of union members in companies or moves by employers to offer incentives to workers to leave unions.
Such legislation could be introduced while the substantive issue of collective bargaining rights in non-union companies was addressed in a new process within a tight time frame.
However, while it is understood that such a proposal has been considered, there is no agreement in this area as of yet.
There has also been speculation that the Government could offer special tax or PRSI reforms aimed at the low-paid. However, some Government sources have pointed out that many low-paid workers have already been taken out of the tax net over recent years.
Other key elements of any deal will be the length of time over which any increases would be spread. Unions would prefer an 18-month agreement, but some sources suggested that the Government may want it to run for 20 or 21 months.
Some highly-placed sources have said they do not believe that there will be any alteration to the Government proposal, tabled in July, for an 11-month pay pause in the public sector.
Unions will also press strongly that any pay pause which they may have to accept in the private sector will have to be identical for all workers and that it cannot be longer for those in construction.