CIF says 20% cut in pay could lead to 20,000 jobs

THE Construction Industry Federation has told the Labour Court a 20% reduction in the minimum wage rate for general operatives will help restore some of the 200,000 jobs lost in the industry over the last two years.

It is understood that members of the CIF are demanding its leadership withdraw from the legally-binding Registered Employment Agreement, which sets rates of pay in the industry unless the labour cost to them is reduced substantially.

Speaking before he went into the Labour Court to apply for the reduction, CIF director general Tom Parlon said the situation could not continue in which general operatives without experience were earning a bigger start-off wage than qualified accountants, qualified nurses, and graduate engineers.

“For construction general operatives, which includes craft people, its €18.64 per hour,” he said. “Plus they get travelling expenses for travelling to work, up to two and a half hours a day in some cases, at €18.64 per hour. For an employer it (travel expenses) accounts for up to 20% of the total cost. In Dublin it is from O’Connell Street to the site at a rate per hour. It can account to €200 to €300 per individual worker for the travelling cost.”

Mr Parlon said every other sector has taken pay cuts, including others within the construction industry. “They (general operatives) are the dearest in Europe,” he said. “We can’t compete at the minute. They are 60% higher than the North.”

In its submission to the Labour Court, the CIF said a reduction in the rate would lead to the creation of more jobs because Irish companies would be able to compete, particularly for public capital projects.

However, trade union leaders said construction workers have already suffered a massive drop in income from loss of bonuses and overtime and cannot afford any cuts in their basic rates of pay.

Meanwhile, public sector union leaders who make up the Public Services Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions will gather this afternoon to cast their vote in an ICTU ballot on the Croke Park deal on public service pay and reform.

With the majority of unions already indicating their support for the deal, the ICTU ballot will yield a result in favour. However, a number of unions have said they will not be constrained by the terms.

One of those unions, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, said it will consider the ICTU decision at its executive committee meeting on June 24 and would decide its “ongoing position with regard to the proposed agreement”.