THE STATE’S largest union, Siptu, says it has served national pay claims on up to 15 companies, and dozens more on employers at local level, since the collapse of national pay talks this month.
Attempts to revive the talks under the national partnership structure are set to resume next week, according to Government sources, but little immediate progress is expected as many of the leading figures involved are still on holidays.
Siptu says the claims it has made are for cost-of-living pay increases, or more where it believes the companies can afford to pay extra. According to Siptu official Gerry McCormack, up to half its members’ agreements under the existing national agreement were now running out.
Mr McCormack contrasted Siptu’s “realistic and responsible” approach to claims with a new survey on pay trends for top managers, which shows big pay increases for the chief executives of Irish companies over the past year.
The report by Hewitt Associates shows that the directors of Ireland’s quoted companies achieved an average 12 per cent rise in their basic pay last year, and a 30 per cent increase when bonuses and other benefits were included. By contrast, the average increase in fixed salaries in the US was just 4 per cent, and 3.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent in other European countries.
Mr McCormack commented: “This survey suggests that the people lecturing us about pay moderation and pay pauses are failing to demonstrate a similar sense of responsibility themselves.”
He pointed out that employers wanted employees to accept pay pauses of between six months and 12 months, followed by two increases of 2.5 per cent over 21 months, when talks on a national agreement collapsed.
“They may claim that many of the increases they awarded themselves were made before it was clear how serious the current international downturn would be, but Hewitt anticipates that Irish executives will be rewarding themselves at least another 5 or 6 per cent this year.”
“Unlike senior executives, most workers are already feeling the impact of inflation on their living standards and will not accept a pay freeze,” he said.
