Employers, unions and the Government last night made significant progress towards concluding a deal on the pay and workplace elements of a new national partnership programme.
The talks at Government Buildings yesterday adjourned at 10.30pm and will resume this afternoon, when it is hoped that an overall deal on a successor to Sustaining Progress may be finalised.
A basic pay increase of 10 per cent, in four phases, over 27 months has already been agreed in the talks. But other key elements of the workplace agenda remain to be finalised when talks resume. These include outstanding elements of a package on employment standards, as well as union demands for strong measures to bolster occupational pensions. This afternoon the social partners will also discuss the wider social and economic provisions of a 10-year partnership agreement.
Moves to finalise an agreement coincided yesterday with a meeting between top level representatives of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) and Minister for Finance Brian Cowen. The CIF has serious concerns about aspects of a Government plan to introduce fixed-price contracts for infrastructure projects. The intention is that contractors, rather than the State, should bear the financial consequences of contracts going over budget or being delayed.
Construction industry sources say there is no objection to such contracts in principle, but there are concerns that contractors could be penalised for setbacks that are outside their control. The CIF is seeking agreement on the "appropriate" risks to be borne by contractors involved in public sector projects.
The fixed-term contracts issue has not been on the agenda at the partnership talks. However, in agreeing to enter negotiations, the CIF informed the Government that it wished to see the issue resolved. It remains to be seen whether the CIF would support a new partnership agreement in the absence of a resolution of the issue.
Talks on a new partnership deal began in early February in the hope that an agreement could be arrived at by mid-March.
A deadlock ensued, however, between employers, unions and the Government over the measures needed to underpin employment standards and combat exploitation of migrant workers.
An outline agreement, including the introduction of stiffer penalties for employment law breaches and a trebling of the number of labour inspectors, was reached at the end of April.
But a number of issues remained to be resolved last night. These included measures to stamp out the use of "sub-contractors", who are in reality employees, for the purpose of avoiding tax and other liabilities, and the question of how employment agencies should be regulated. Unions were also seeking Government action to protect workers' pensions, while agreement on the next increase in the minimum wage had also to be reached.
