SIPTU has welcomed today's publication of the Redundancy Payments Bill by the Tánaiste, Ms Mary Harney, calling it "long overdue".
The new bill, if passed, will abolish the current distinction which directs redundancy payments according to age.
Under current legislation, workers aged over 41 years of age receive a week's pay per year of service on redundancy, while younger workers get just half a week's pay per year of service.
Under the proposed legislation, every worker made redundant will qualify for statutory two weeks' pay for every year of service.
SIPTU's Vice President, Mr Jack O'Connor, acknowledged that "the Minister is acting in accordance with one of the key commitments in 'Sustaining Progress,' which is to increase the level of statutory redundancy payments.
"The changes proposed represents an achievement for the consensus approach - and would never have been won were it not for thousands of workers participating in nationwide trade union protests on October 4th last year - in many cases under threat of disciplinary action from employers," he added.