SIPTU general president Mr Des Geraghty has said the union rejects "with outrage" the view that workers' wages are driving inflation.
Speaking this morning at the union's national delegate conference in Galway, Mr Geraghty criticised the "chorus of blame" directed at trade unions and public services in particular following the collapse of the Celtic Tiger economy.
The union leader said the suggestion that national wage agreements were to blame for economic problems was a prejudice of the "New Right".
"In 1987, the share-out of net domestic product per capita was 66.4 per cent for wages to employees and 23.7 per cent for profits and rents to companies," he said.
"Fifteen years on, in 2002, despite our best efforts in collective bargaining, the share-out came to only 50 per cent for wages and 50 per cent for profits and rents."
Mr Geraghty said the "gurus of the New Right" consistently refuse to acknowledge that the new market-driven global economy is more prone than ever to "boom and bust" tendencies.
"To find an answer to our economic woes, we need to take a close look at corporate avarice, inflated performance figures by major corporations, the rapacious role of money making institutions which produce nothing and provide no real services; a close look at those who rezone land, overcharge for health care, insurance, [and] those who abuse a monopoly position in the market place," he said.
On other issues, Mr Geraghty said economic planning over the past 15 years had not resulted in a significant redistribution of resources in favour of the lower paid and the poor. Ireland continued to have one of the highest poverty rates in Europe and was also one of the "least equal" societies in the EU when the earnings of the richest 20 per cent were compared to those of the bottom 70 per cent, he said.
He said the National Pensions Reserve Fund must continue to be resourced to guarantee the future provision of both public service and social welfare pensions.
Mr Geraghty retires next month. He is expected to be succeeded by the current vice president, Mr Jack O'Connor. The vice presidency is predicted to be filled by Mr Brendan Hayes, who is Dublin regional chief.
Some 500 participants at the conference in Galway will hear speakers including South Africa's Minister for Education, Mr Kadar Asmal; Ms Joan Carmichael, the assistant general secretary of ICTU; and Labour MEP for Dublin Mr Proinsias De Rossa.
The union says it represents some 200,000 workers from almost every category of employment.