The ICTU's private sector committee unanimously agreed to establish a pay guide for unions. Given the profitability and competitive position of the company in question, unions are being instructed to look for additional improvements for workers in addition to attempting to obtain pay increases.

These include raising the pay rates for new hires, safeguarding and preserving weekly work schedules, and making use of suitable policies like the Small Benefits Exemption Scheme.

Additionally, unions are advised to negotiate for more benefits, including better pension benefits, more yearly leave, paid family leave and sick pay, and shorter working hours.

Owen Reidy, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, stated, "We just came out of a General Election where the cost of living was the second most important issue for voters."

"The purchasing power that workers' wages lost over the years of high inflation has not been restored. Despite slower price inflation, the ordinary private sector worker is in worse shape now than they were three years ago, according to Mr. Reidy.

"We believe it is essential at a time when the economy is booming and when the numbers at work has never been as high that workers seek to achieve decent pay increases through collective bargaining," he stated.

By neglecting to enact new laws, the government has once again been accused by the ICTU of not fully implementing an EU directive on workers' rights.

The raising of statutory minimum salaries and encouraging collective bargaining, the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum salaries aims to lessen working poverty and inequality.

According to legal advice the Department of Enterprise obtained, Ireland's current minimum wage setting mechanism complies with the directive's requirements in most cases, and no additional collective bargaining legislation is needed.