Siptu president Jack O'Connor has criticised calls from Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny to suspend the national wage agreement for at least 12 months.
Mr Kenny made the call last night in an address to his party’s national conference in Wexford, saying the pact was no longer affordable in the current downturn.
Mr O'Connor described suspension of the pay deal as the "worst possible approach imaginable at this point in time", saying it would not only have implications for the living standards of ordinary people, but it could also worsen the recession and depress consumer confidence further at a time when demand needed to be stimulated.
Mr Kenny said last night the deal was negotiated in “a different context with different expectations” and would have to be put on hold if the deterioration in public finances was to be halted.
He said the “painful truth” was the country could not afford the deal and “wage restraint in the short term was preferable to job losses in the long term”.
Fine Gael's finance spokesman Richard Bruton said today that given the prevailing circumstances Siptu's response was disappointing and ultimately short-sighted.
Mr Bruton said: "Wage restraint and protecting existing jobs must be the top priority for all concerned with the future of the Irish economy"
"Enda Kenny set out clearly that any monies saved from such an initiative would be reinvested in strategic infrastructure like schools and public transport, and training and upskilling our work force. This would all contribute to actually improving our prospects of recovery," he added.
However, Mr O'Connor said: "With regard to the employment implications of the pay deal, the agreement includes a tried and tested 'inability to pay' mechanism to protect against jobs being lost".
The pay deal, which has been backed by unions and employers, will see workers gain increases of 6 per cent over the next 21 months.