The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has called for the Government to give priority to working families in next month's budget.
It also said the Government must signal that the National Development Plan will be implemented in full. In its pre-budget submission, Ictu said the Government should introduce paid leave to encourage and assist people in accessing training and education.
It proposed that paid maternity leave be increased by three months to nine months, while paid paternity leave of one month should be introduced. Ictu called for an increase in maternity leave benefit. It urged that paid parental leave be introduced. It said 80 per cent of eligible parents had not taken parental leave entitlements.
The body also called on the Government to introduce a statutory entitlement to flexible working arrangements. It said workers should have a right to request their preferred flexible working option and employers should be obliged to seriously consider this and only be allowed to refuse if there was a substantial business reason.
It said flexible working arrangements should include reduced and compressed hours, flexitime, career breaks, and work that was part-time, work-sharing, job-sharing and term-time, as well as e-working.
Ictu called for one year's free universal early education for all three- to four-year-olds. The submission said the Government should increase the individual standard rate tax band by €4,000. It said the individual tax credit should rise by €100 and employee's tax credit by €350 - a total of €450.
Ictu urged that the PRSI earnings exemption threshold should be increased from €287 to €442 per week. It proposed the PRSI tax-free allowance be raised from €127 to €217 per week. Ictu said the ceiling on pension contributions should be substantially reduced to €130,000, "for reasons of equity and to reduce tax-avoidance by high-income earners".
It also said the minimum wage should remain outside the tax net.
The submission urged that the Government "must end unfair practices in respect of tax and social welfare which discriminated against same-sex and cohabiting couples" in the budget.
General secretary David Begg said Ictu believed investment in people and the services that support them would "reap rich dividends in the future".
