'Flagrant' breach of pay pact claimed

EMPLOYERS' representatives in the mid-west have expressed concern at what they say is "a flagrant breach of the pay provisions…

EMPLOYERS' representatives in the mid-west have expressed concern at what they say is "a flagrant breach of the pay provisions of Partnership 2000 by the leadership of SIPTU".

Mr Seamus O'Sullivan, president of the Mid-West Regional Committee of IBEC, after a meeting yesterday, condemned "a SIPTU instruction to members to disregard the agreement by seeking to improve the local bargaining element from 2 to 4 per cent", either by direct pay increases or by profit or gain sharing schemes.

Mr O'Sullivan said that politicians must accept a major share of the blame for the SIPTU action. "Massive pay awards to public servants which were outside the terms of the PCW had only been agreed be-cause of political pressure," he said.