The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) has formally approved the second phase of the Sustaining Progress national pay deal.
Delegates at an ICTU conference at the Helix theatre in Dublin voted by 267 votes to 110 in favour of the agreement, which will see workers awarded pay increases of 5.5 per cent phased over 18 months.
The Irish Bank Officials Association, Mandate, the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) and the Teachers' Union of Ireland earlier rejected the deal but members of most of the State's biggest unions, including Siptu, approved it, leaving a comfortable margin for its endorsement at the Ictu conference today.
INO general secretary Mr Liam Doran said today his delegates would be rejecting the deal because the deal did not ensure enopugh health service investment. "We believe that trade union members, as workers and patients, deserve better and we are calling upon Congress to look again at these current proposals," he said today.
ICTU says unions are not just voting for a pay rise but for better take-home pay and lower taxes down the line. Congress is expecting Budget 2005 to deliver additional benefits to workers and has made it clear to the Government that there is scope to give major tax breaks.
Spokeswoman Ms Sally Anne Kinahan said: "The proposal on the table is a relatively good offer. If approved, we should see a real improvement in people's disposal income and get minimum wage earners removed from the tax net."
However ICTU says it still has concerns about indirect taxes. "We will also be carefully watching increases in Government charges and energy price rises in petrol and gas," Ms Kinahan added.
Additional reporting PA