Parlon seeks pay cuts and warns of job losses in construction industry

A FURTHER 55,000 jobs could be lost in the building industry by the end of the year, the director general of the Construction Industry Federation Tom Parlon told the Labour Court yesterday.

Mr Parlon, who was heckled and booed by construction workers on his way into the court, alleged he had also been spat at during the fracas, to which gardaí were called.

He said the talks had featured a “robust” debate with Siptu’s national organiser Noel Dowling on the prospects for a 3.5 per cent pay rise .

The rise is due under the national pay agreement.

Instead of paying the rise, Mr Parlon said the industry was seeking a pay cut of 10 per cent.

He said the average salary for a construction worker was €50,000 a year, and he insisted there was anecdotal evidence that workers around the country would take a pay cut of up to 15 per cent to avoid redundancies, but they were prevented from doing so by national agreements.

Mr Parlon said there was now a substantial question as to whether there was a national wage agreement in force, given that Ibec was now looking for pay cuts and the Government was effectively imposing them on civil servants.

Mr Dowling said builders were “people who helped wreck the economy, and now they are attempting to get the last drop of blood out of it”.