The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) will be aiming to reduce the gender pay gap and low pay of women workers in its current talks with employers' groups and the Government.
Speaking at a conference in the Botanic Gardens to mark International Women's Day tomorrow, Sally Anne Kinahan, Ictu Assistant General Secretary, said equal pay must become a reality. She said Ictu's focus would be on closing the gender pay gap by 1 per cent per annum.
"Women continue to earn 85 per cent of men's average hourly earnings. The current gender gap stands at about 14 per cent. The gap is narrower in the public than in the private sector. The ESRI have reported that the gender pay gap increases by some 1 - 2 per cent when pensions and other occupational benefits are taken into account," she said.
Ms Kinahan said the Congress would also be focusing on the under-participation of women over 30 in the workforce, the poor representation of women in senior management, skills development, and affordable childcare.
"The affordability of childcare must be tackled as a priority with financial relief targeted towards working parents. In the best interests of children and working parents, childcare must become a public good in the same way as education and health with quality care availalbe to meet pre-school and after school needs," she added.
Ms Kinahan said that one of the most effective ways to deal with gender equality is to include gender as a dimension of the collective bargaining agenda.
"It is our objective, therefore, to include a significant gender dimension to the current national partnership talks. We will be looking for a commitmtent to an overarching policy appraoch to address the many inequalities experienced by women," she said.
Little if any progress has been made to date in the talks, however, which have focused on union demands for new measures to protect employment standards.
Ictu wants substantial progress on this issue before it negotiates on other issues. It wants new legislation to ensure workers are paid the "going rate" for a job and cannot be made redundant in order to be replaced by others on lower rates of pay.