Trade union Siptu said it had served pay claims on up to 15 companies nationally and “dozens more” on employers at local level, after the failure to reach agreement on a new national pay deal last month.
Up to half the union's membership, or about 100,000 workers in major companies such as Tesco, Glanbia and Roadstone, are affected by the pay claims.
The union said in a statement is was seeking cost-of-living increases, or above, where it feels that companies can afford to pay extra.
National industrial secretary for the private sector, Gerry McCormack, said up to half of Siptu members’ agreements under the last national pay deal Towards 2016 were now running out.
“Our union is making realistic and responsible claims on employers,” Mr McCormack said.
He said latest surveys on international pay trends for top executives suggested “that the people lecturing us about pay moderation and pay pauses are failing to demonstrate a similar sense of responsibility themselves”.
Mr McCormack said a survey by Hewitt Associates showed Irish executives had awarded themselves increases averaging 12 per cent over the past year, compared with 4 per cent in the US and between 3.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent across Europe.
“The rise in the value of the remuneration packet for Irish executives rises to 30 per cent when bonuses are thrown in.”
The union official said employers here had asked workers to accept pay pauses of between six and 12 months, followed by two increases of 2.5 per cent over 21 months, when talks on a national agreement collapsed.
Siptu’s announcement follows a move by banking union Iboa earlier this week to seek a 10 per cent pay claim on behalf of its members in the four main banking groups.
At national level, the companies served with pay claims by Siptu in recent days include Atlantic Homecare, Britvic, Glanbia, Grafton Group/Chadwicks, Cemex/Readymix, Aer Lingus, Roadstone, Heiton Buckley, Radisson SAS hotels, Tesco, Veolia, Bord na gCon, Diageo, William Hill, Aramark Campbell Catering, and Sodexho catering.
Dozens of other claims are also currently being processed separately by local Siptu branches.