Several hundred building workers marched on the Dail yesterday calling for pay increases and improved pensions. However, the organisers claimed hundreds more stayed away due to threats from employers that they would lose their jobs if they took part.

The Dublin Alliance of General Construction Operatives (DAGCO) is demanding changes to the current contributory pension scheme which, they say, is expensive and wide open to abuse.

The alliance says only about a third of some 100,000 manual workers in the building industry are members of the mandatory pension scheme, leaving some 60,000 workers not covered. Due to the poor level of membership of the scheme, the returns for a building worker with full-paid contributions are very low. One of DAGCO's members, Mr Darren McGuinness, said a builder with 35 years' full-paid contributions could expect a pension of £164 a month.

"The sick benefits are less than they should be, the death benefits are less than they should be, and the pensions are less than they should be because there are not enough people in the scheme," said Mr McGuinness.

He said subcontractors in the black economy, by employing builders not covered by the scheme, were able to undercut contractors whose workers were signed up to it.

He also claimed some workers had been intimidated by their employers into not attending yesterday's demonstration.

"Lots of employers told the lads if they went to the walk they would find ways of getting rid of them.

"Some people stayed on site because they were too afraid," he said.