Building unions pledge to resist further wage cuts

Construction unions have told employers they will strongly resist any attempt to further cut wage rates in the struggling industry.

The Construction Industry Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions yesterday met with employer representatives at the Labour Relations’ Commission following employer calls for a 20% cut in the legally binding pay rates governing the sector.

Those rates, set under registered employment agreements, apply to 50,000 site-based workers.

The committee has already made clear it will try to resist any further cuts to wage rates in the sector, including a demand it claims the Construction Industry Federation has made that a statutory minimum wage be introduced.

Fergus Whelan of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions said construction workers had already suffered a 7.5% wage cut in return for “unemployment and reduced dole benefits”.

“We told them that their plans to create a low-wage, labour-sweating industry for the future will not work because construction workers simply won’t accept it,” he said. “Our committee discussed the employers demand with every worker — employed and unemployed — in the Irish construction industry. We have urged them to resist this attempt to return our industry to the 19th century.

“Many of the employers demanding these cuts are bankrupt, or are on big retainer fees from Nama. They are carrying out no construction work at present.”

However, the Construction Industry Federation argued that the existing rates are leading to a black market in which rogue employers and subcontractors are offering their services for well below the registered employment agreements rates.