Irish congress of trade unions general secretary David Begg warned yesterday that unless they and Ibec share a common vision for Ireland's future, in forthcoming partnership talks, there was "a compelling case for unions to seek to maximise wages".
He also said Ireland's current level of economic growth was not sustainable and it was time to ask "whether growth at all costs is appropriate to our current circumstances".
He was speaking in Dublin on the theme "Securing Fairness and Wellbeing in a Land of Plenty" at the Conference of Religious of Ireland (Cori) justice commission's 17th annual conference.
Since the 1980s the national priority had been to deal with unemployment by giving business everything needed to create jobs, he said.
Now "a rational case can be made for optimising economic growth and achieving a plateau over a greater period".
Ibec director general Turlough O'Sullivan strongly disagreed. "We have to continue to grow - as a very small, very tiny producing outfit on the periphery of Europe, and which exports practically everything we make.
"We don't have a domestic market, such as France or Germany or the bigger countries. The ideal for us is when they are doing well. The bigger the marketplace the better for Ireland," he said.
Mr Begg added that "to continue to grow at 5 per cent per annum is only possible with immigration of 50,000 - 60,000 people per annum".
Such numbers would put huge pressure on housing, education and roads, which in turn would affect sustainable growth, he said.
Mr O'Sullivan didn't think we could "be so choosy with a small domestic economy. We have to fight tooth and nail for what we can get".
Over recent years 30,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost, he said.