Construction bosses not honouring pension obligations

Trade unions say employers are still are not complying with pension provisions in place for construction workers.

The Building and Allied Trades Union says almost two-thirds of employees in the sector are not registered for an industry pension scheme in line with their legal entitlements.

The comments follow the release of the latest Labour Court annual report, which says almost half of the cases it dealt with last year arose from employers breaking agreements on pay and conditions.

Many of these complaints related to the pension scheme in the construction industry.

BATU spokesman Denis Farrell says construction employers are legally obliged to register workers for the scheme, but just 94,000 are currently registered out of a total workforce of 280,000.

"That clearly shows that a huge number of people are not complying," he says.