SIPTU: 1% levy could derail pay deal

THE Finance Minister’s decision to impose a 1% levy on workers could sound the deathknell for the new national wage agreement.

Yesterday’s budget will, according to the country’s largest trade union SIPTU, leave workers with 0.7% less money in real terms if they accept the new pay deal.

The union was already having problems selling that deal to its members and the new levy on the working class may have pushed the doubters into a definite “no” vote.