SIPTU urges radical action on pensions

The president of the State's biggest trade union yesterday called on the Government to force employers to contribute to workers' pensions if enough people have not provided for their retirement by 2006.

Mr Jack O'Connor, president of SIPTU, said the union wanted the Government to introduce radical measures to ensure it meets its stated target of getting 70 per cent of workers to make pension provision by 2006.

"If there is not a dramatic improvement in pension coverage between now and 2006, when the Government is obliged to review the situation under the provisions of the 2002 Pensions Act, SIPTU will demand mandatory employers' contributions to occupational pension schemes," he said.

Speaking in advance of National Pensions Awareness Week, which kicks off on Monday, Mr O'Connor was critical of employers' response to initiatives like the personal retirement savings accounts (PRSAs) introduced last year.

He alleged that in some workplaces where employees were contributing to PRSAs, employers were pocketing the resulting PRSI savings. "At the very least, employers should contribute these savings to their employees' pension or PRSA arrangements," he said.

According to Mr O'Connor, the State is still 10 per cent short of its 70 per cent coverage target. He warned that next year would be crunch time for national pensions policy, as the Government would have just 12 months to meet is target.

He argued that people should not be forced to work beyond the current retirement age of 65. "We do not see increasing people's retirement age as the solution," he said.

"We want to propose today the establishment of a pension fund for each person immediately after they are born," he said. "We want to propose that that would be done on the basis that the children's allowance would be increased to the level agreed under Sustaining Progress.

"We are proposing that an additional 10 per cent would be added that would be invested in that fund, and that fund would continue to attract that 10 per cent until the person is 18."

The union wants the Government to introduce a tax credit of €10 a week for those on low incomes to encourage them to save in next December's Budget.

Mr O'Connor also called for tax incentives for people to invest their special savings incentive accounts (SSIAs) in pensions when they mature in 2006 and 2007.

Responding to Mr O'Connor's warning on forcing employers to contribute to pension schemes, Mr Mark Fielding, chief executive of the Irish Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (ISME) association, accused SIPTU of scapegoating employers for workers' failure to open PRSAs.