Speaking ahead of the increase to the minimum wage by 80 cents to €13.50 an hour, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary, Owen Reidy said:
“Around 200,000 low-paid workers will be starting the New Year with a pay rise of 6.3%. A full-time minimum wage worker will now earn an extra €30 a week or €1,600 across the year before tax. This marks the third increase in a four-year plan to replace the National Minimum Wage with a new National Living Wage worth 60% of median earnings by January 2026.
“There is no place in a modern, rich country like Ireland for any worker to be paid below the 60% poverty line. Momentum must be maintained by the new government to meet the agreed 60% target in 12 months, with a view to setting a subsequent target of 66% thereafter – a target reached in the UK last April by a Tory government.
“The National Minimum Wage turns 25 in 2025. Doomsayers predicted when it was first introduced in 2000, and every year the rate goes up, that it will bankrupt businesses and cost jobs. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.”
Mr Reidy added: “Government foot-dragging and delay tactics on their commitments to improve workers’ pay and conditions is simply unacceptable. Since the summer, they’ve kicked the can on legislating to promote collective bargaining, increasing the number of paid sick days, scrapping sub-minimum wage rates, raising minimum pay for work permits, and ending forced retirement. Is it any wonder public trust in politicians is plummeting?
“Trade unions have never denied sector specific challenges and that some businesses will have further to travel than others in bringing working conditions in line with the norm across Europe. Vulnerable but viable businesses should be supported. But those business supports should be targeted, time-limited and agreed through dialogue with the social partners. Workers cannot be left to pick up the bill for reducing the cost of doing business.”
ENDS
The Congress Private Sector Committee will be marking the 25th anniversary of the National Minimum Wage Act with a conference on pay in April.
