SIPTU has called on the Government to make "a substantial improvement" in statutory redundancy payments.
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SIPTU President Mr Des Geraghty
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Under law, all workers are entitled to a minimum redundancy package. This amounts to half a week's pay for each year of employment between the ages of 16 and 41 years or a week's pay for each year of employment over the age of 41.
SIPTU President Mr Des Geraghty said there has been a significant increase in the number of job losses in recent times. He pointed out that the law has lagged behind developments in the real world and that minimum provisions need updating.
Mr Geraghty said figures compiled by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment show a sharp rise in the number of redundancies, suggesting that job losses this year will be the highest on record since 1993.
He said an "appropriate source" of funding for statutory redundancy payments would be the Social Insurance Fund which he said the Minister for Finance "raided" in the last budget.
The SIPTU President said it was now "time to do right by those workers whose jobs are threatened by the world economic slowdown."