SIPTU is beginning a campaign for pay rises.
The union's President is calling for increases of five percent as well as a rise in the national minimum wage from 8.65 to 11.45 an hour.
Jack O'Connor says SIPTU is also engaging in a national campaign to apply pressure on the Government to begin abolishing the Universal Social Charge.
He says a new mechanism is required which would raise revenue from the better off, while removing the burden on those earning low to middle incomes.
