SIPTU: Inflation wiped out pay deal

LOW-PAID workers endured a 0.7% pay cut during the last social partnership agreement, a SIPTU economist said yesterday.

The trade union yesterday voted to accept the Government’s invitation to talks on a successor to Towards 2016, but emphasised it had clear financial and practical demands that must be met before the union’s executive will recommend a new agreement to its members.

The previous social partnership process awarded workers a 10% pay increase over 27 months, but according to SIPTU’s head of research, Manus O’Riordan, inflation rates over the period totalled 11.7%. As a result, he said the average worker is taking home 1.2% less in real terms than before the agreement commenced.