SIPTU is to cut the salaries on offer for its top three jobs by more than 20 per cent. In future anyone elected as president, vice-president or general secretary of the State's largest union will be paid £59,812 a year, instead of the current £75,830.
The incumbent president, Mr Jimmy Somers, and the general secretary, Mr Billy Attley, will continue to receive £75,830 a year each. The pension entitlements of the union's four retired general officers will not be affected. The high salaries for the leaders of a union which has traditionally been seen as a champion of the low-paid were targeted by a Waterford shop floor candidate in the union's presidential election, Ms Carolann Duggan, when she ran unsuccessfully against Mr Somers earlier this year. Mr Somers's former position as vice president is now being contested by Ms Duggan and four other candidates.
Inevitably, the decision to reduce the salaries will be seen partly as a response to the 38,000 votes she received. A spokesman for SIPTU said, however, that the decision was part of the Strategic Development Initiative, a continuing process of change established within the union three years ago.
He said the decision to cut the salaries has been taken in conjunction with one to reduce the number of regional secretaries from seven to five.
The co-ordinator of the SDI is SIPTU's national industrial secretary, Mr Des Geraghty, who is the leading candidate in the current election.
"We've been reviewing all aspects of the organisation, and virtually every week we're making changes to the organisation. It's not right to look at salaries in isolation," he said.