ICTU General Secretary Owen Reidy has said, "IBEC’s call today for a halt in progress on employment rights is unacceptable and shouldn’t be tolerated. Many workers in Ireland remain seriously affected by the cost-of-living crisis. The NMW has increased this year but it should be remembered that this is merely playing catch up given previous increases were well below inflation. People must live as well as work in this economy and we expect the government to continue with its commitment to introduce a living wage over the next period".
Owen Reidy said "Other issues such as statutory sick leave are very modest and it is disappointing that IBEC is taking a short-term and knee-jerk approach to this. These issues have been well-flagged over the last number of years. What the pandemic showed was how poor our welfare regime actually is.
Workers in Ireland pay, pay-related social insurance but only now are we looking at some modest form of pay-related unemployment benefit.
Workers in Ireland pay the equivalent taxes that other workers pay in wealthy European countries. The real inequity is that employers in Ireland, when it comes to taxes on labour, pay slightly less than half (48%) of what their peers in wealthy European countries pay. Finally, we have a real opportunity to address productivity with the required implementation of a new EU Directive which requires the state to promote collective bargaining. Evidence clearly shows that states in Europe with higher levels of collective bargaining do better. IBEC should reflect on this".
