SIPTU Call's For Construction Workers To Join Protest

SIPTU has called on Ireland's construction workers to join a mojor protest taking place tomorrow.

The trade union hit out at construction industry employers who are seeking a 10% pay cut from their workers as part of a renegotiation of industry agreements.

SIPTU's National Organiser Noel Dowling, who is Chairperson of the Construction Industry Committee, said today builders and developers, "were the biggest beneficiaries of the economic boom and the first group of employers to walk away from their commitments to their workers and the wider community".

He added: "It was their excessive profit taking and manipulation of the market that played a leading role in creating the present crisis. Between 2003 and 2007 profits in the industry rose by 66% and wages by 22%.

Mr Dowling went on to say that there was an all-out attack on PAYE workers and their families.

"The Construction Industry Committee of Congress is calling on every construction worker in the country to join tomorrow’s march organised by the ICTU. We need to show the Government, construction employers and the financial elite that we are prepared to mobilise and fight back."

The Construction Industry Federation is arguing the case for the cut at the Labour Court today, saying it is needed to protect jobs.

The trade union movement is putting forward an alternative case seeking a 6% pay increase over the next 21 months.

SIPTU says the employers have a "brass neck" in calling for a pay cut given the massive profits they have made in recent years.

(DW/BMcC)