Construction unions propose 7.5% wage- cut

national | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Thursday September 09, 2010 10:36 by banbora

Trade unions representing Irish construction workers called for a 7.5 % cut in their members’ wages after meeting in Dublin yesterday.

The seven unions - SIPTU, UCATT, BATU, TEEU, Unite, as well as unions negotiating on behalf of sheet metal workers and plasterers- say the reduction of construction workers’ wages that they are recommending is necessary to save the Registered Employment Agreement (REA), by which the unions and The Construction Industry Federation (CIF), representing employers, regulate wages and conditions in the sector.

The unions’ wage-cut proposal came in response to a threat from the CIF to withdraw unilaterally from the REA unless what they termed a “realistic reduction” in wages of 20% was agreed for the 100,000 workers in the industry. The CIF has now indicated that employers will be prepared to agree to the union’s proposal for a 7.5% cut, which if accepted by workers, will reduce the sector’s current industrial wage of €17 an hour by €1.27.

Fergie Whelan, industrial officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, admits that it will be difficult to sell the union plan to workers who have been offered nothing in terms of job security in exchange for accepting the wage-cut proposal. Whelan made clear yesterday that the union leaderships’ priority will be maintaining the harmony they presently enjoy with the CIF - even though the employers are exploiting the current economic slump to push through their offensive against workers’ hard-won wages and conditions in the building industry.

Explaining the unions’ corporatist strategy to reporters after the joint union meeting , SIPTU official Whelan told reporters that what was at stake was , “whether we're going to have an industry which is done by agreement or is done by exploitation and abuse “ .