The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is referring the final terms of the new national pay agreement to succeed Partnership 2000 to its affiliated unions without a recommendation for acceptance.
Last night trade union leaders agreed that the offer of 15 per cent, plus another 10 per cent in tax cuts, was the most they could obtain from the current talks process.
Nevertheless, the ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, did not propose that the executive endorse the package because it would have split the trade unions.
Under the final terms workers on the basic national minimum wage (NMW) will receive increases worth 18.65 per cent over the 33 months of the agreement. Workers on £200 will receive 16.3 per cent and other workers 15.75 per cent.
The Social Welfare Bill will provide increases worth another £5 a week to workers earning under £200 a week through PRSI and health-levy exemptions. The NMW will start at £4.40p and rise to £4.70p in July 2001 and £5 in October 2002.
Later Mr Cassells said the terms were not ideal but aimed "to get the balance right between two important needs: distributing the benefits of economic growth fairly and maintaining the competitiveness of Irish industry".
Several of the smaller private-sector unions were deeply unhappy with the fact that there was no local bargaining clause. They said teachers and civil servants were receiving 3 per cent "catch-up payments" while they were tied to the basic 15 per cent.
SIPTU's attitude was more ambivalent. It saw gain-sharing as a major source of local-bargaining increases but had serious misgivings on the benefits for the low-paid and members in the public service.
The union's national executive is meeting tomorrow to discuss the agreement. Last night its chief negotiators were still seeking clarifications on tax cuts and how the new "benchmarking" system for reviewing public service pay will operate. Thousands of SIPTU members in the public sector rely primarily on relativities with "marker grades" in other unions for pay rises.
Mandate, the State's second-largest union, expressed "severe misgivings" about the failure of employers to offer better flat-rate increases to the low-paid. It says members will ballot on the deal over the next two weeks.
MSF, which represents middle- to higher-income earners, was more ambiguous. Its national secretary, Mr Jerry Shanahan, said: "A lot will depend on the debate and the analysis. The decision about whether it is acceptable or not will be taken in the workplace."
However, there was nothing ambiguous about the stance taken by IMPACT's general secretary, Mr Peter McLoone. The leader of the State's largest public service union said he would be urging acceptance of the deal at a union meeting on Friday.
"I will be telling IMPACT members that no other process would throw up better terms and I will urge them to vote for the deal on that basis," he said.
The Small Firms Association also described the deal as "pushing the possibilities to the limit. It's tough, but it's honourable," the SFA chairman, Mr Kieran Crowley, said.
