Trade unions are seeking to link pay rises in the next national partnership agreement to inflation and productivity in a deal that could lead to wage increases of 6 per cent per year.
Briefing the media on the Ictu position at the talks which resumed today, general secretary David Begg stressed a particular figure had not been put forward.
He said Congress wants a two-year deal which would link pay increases to inflation and productivity rates. Increases should favour the lower paid and an increase in the minimum wage was also being sought, he said.
Writing in The Irish Timestoday Mr Begg said Irish labour costs were not high relative to other EU states yet Irish workers faced higher prices than "virtually all other 15 (pre-accession) EU states".
He also claimed employers enjoy "far lower taxes and lower social contributions than their EU competitors".
Earlier, the body representing small and medium-size businesses in Ireland, Isme, has dismissed union claims that employers have "never had it so good".
Chief executive Mark Fielding, said the Ictu claim that there was scope for generous pay increases was "naive and dangerous" and should be "dismissed out of hand as negotiating tactics".
Mr Fielding said that pay rates needed to be brought down to the European average to protect Irish competitiveness with European competitors.
The main employers body Ibec yesterday also criticised the comments by Ictu economic adviser Paul Sweeney. Director of industrial relations Brendan McGinty said Mr Sweeney's analysis had not taken account of the "intolerable strain" many Irish businesses was under.
Restoring competitiveness had to be a priority given that Ireland was a small, open economy that exported 95 per cent of what it produced, he said.
The manufacturing sector which had been the driver of the Celtic Tiger economy, was under particular pressure he added.