TRADE UNIONS and employers have both backed the new national pay deal.
However, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has again signalled that it has significant difficulties with some of the provisions and that its acceptance of the agreement could not be guaranteed.
The CIF is due to make a final decision on whether to ratify the agreement at a meeting of its executive on November 26th.
At a special delegate conference yesterday the trade union movement voted overwhelmingly to accept the new deal. The constituent unions of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) supported the agreement at the conference by 305 votes to 36.
Only two unions, Unite and the Guinness Staff Union, opposed the agreement.
The outcome of the vote had been widely expected as the membership of the vast majority of trade unions had accepted the terms of the agreement in ballots which were undertaken over recent weeks.
The employers' group Ibec said yesterday that it had accepted the new pay deal "as the best that can be achieved at national level".
Ibec director-general Turlough O'Sullivan said: "Ibec members decided on balance to accept this agreement with caution. Members are supporting the agreement because it provides a flexible framework within which the many and varied circumstances of employers and businesses can be accommodated in these extremely difficult times. Job protection is critically important."
At the Ictu conference yesterday a number of trade union leaders indicated that while members were not overly enthusiastic about the pay increases under the deal they did not believe that there was much prospect of securing better terms in local bargaining given the economic situation.
The president of Siptu, the State's largest trade union, called on the Government not to award "lucrative contracts" to companies which did not pay increases under the terms of the new deal.
Jack O'Connor said that any attempt to renege upon the deal, especially on the part of those who had done best in the Celtic Tiger years, would represent "nothing short of national sabotage at this critical moment for our economy".
It was imperative that all sides - employers, workers and the Government - adhered to the agreement, he said.
The CIF, which has voiced concerns in recent weeks about aspects of the deal, such as the duration of the pay pause, considered that Mr O'Connor's comments referred to it and issued a strong statement criticising the Siptu president.
It condemned what it described as Mr O'Connor's "empty sabre-rattling and threats to block badly-needed infrastructure projects in order to serve the naked self- interest of unions".
CIF director-general Tom Parlon said that during the pay talks Siptu had insisted "for the optics" on a 6 per cent increase over 21 months when it knew the economy could not afford it.
"Since then the economy has deteriorated rapidly and Siptu are now attempting to blackmail construction companies into accepting the deal by threatening to block badly-needed infrastructure projects. Talking about disrupting projects that are vital for the Irish economy shows the naked self-interest of the unions," he said.
"Siptu should tell us the roads, public transport projects, schools, healthcare facilities and water-improvement projects that it intends to block."
Mr Parlon said that the construction industry would decide on the pay deal next week.
"You can be assured that the empty sabre-rattling of Jack O'Connor has done little to improve the chances of the deal being accepted," he added.
In its statement Ibec said that everyone was now aware that the State was facing dramatically-changed economic circumstances.
"Importantly, the agreement recognises that there will be employers who will be unable to pay the terms. Others will need to agree cost offsets with their staff in order to meet the terms," it said.
At the Ictu conference the general secretary of Impact, Peter McLoone, said that the new national deal would bring an element of stability to an otherwise uncertain period. However, he insisted that it was capable of doing much more.
He said that ratification of the deal should be seen as the beginning and not the end of social partnership's contribution to economic recovery.
However, Jimmy Kelly, of Unite, said that his members had overwhelmingly rejected the deal as they believed that it would undermine both the economy and living standards.
"Freezing people's wages will reduce demand and consumption, thereby deepening the recession. The shabby treatment of the low-paid will hurt some of the most vulnerable in our society," he said.
The deal
The national pay deal will gain workers increases of 6 per cent phased over 21 months. There will be a three-month pay pause for workers in the private sector and 11 months for public sector employees. Low-paid workers will receive an extra 0.5 per cent.
Public sector workers are scheduled to receive a 3.5 per cent increase next August but the Department of Finance has said that departments and agencies must find the money from their own resources.
The timing of rises in the private sector depends on the expiry date of the current pay deal. Ibec has also warned that more companies will seek to invoke inability to pay clauses.
The employers' group said that the pay terms were not automatic and were to be negotiated at local level, taking account of the employer's economic, commercial and employment circumstances.
"Employers are entitled to full co-operation with normal ongoing change and the need for continued adaptation and flexibility to address competitiveness. Where an employer is unable to implement the pay terms in full, and there is no local agreement, the case can be independently assessed as part of a process chaired by the Labour Relations Commission and can then be subject to a binding Labour Court recommendation."
For unions the deal also contains provisions for legislation on greater employment rights and protections.
There will be legislation to ban the use of agency workers to break strikes and a new process introduced to examine representation rights for workers in non-union companies.