Cutting the minimum wage is “a toxic proposal” that would mean descending below “a threshold of decency in the country”, the general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) has warned.
David Begg said there was "no way" he would tolerate any reduction in the minimum wage of €8.65 per hour, adding the proposal made no sense from an economic viewpoint.
Pledging to also oppose any cuts in basic rates of social welfare, he told reporters at the MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal yesterday: "There is a fundamental question for the people of this country: Is there no level below which we will not go in this crisis?"
His comments came as the leader of the State's biggest union issued a bluntly critical assessment of the McCarthy report, and suggested a general election should be called if attempts were made to implement its proposals.
Siptu general president Jack OConnor said the Taoiseach should call an election if he was unable to rein in "hawks" in the Department of Finance who are pursuing "slash and burn" economic policies.
Mr O'Connor also called on Taoiseach Brian Cowen to exercise some control over Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan before his department did irreparable damage to the country and closed off all prospects of a recovery.
Mr O'Connor said he accepted that public expenditure had to be controlled and public service jobs cut but he described the proposed reduction of 17,000 in the McCarthy report as a tall order.
Speaking at a press conference in Dublin, he described the report as another illustration of the Government's "recipe of reprehensible remedies", that followed the transfer of the banks' massive debts to the taxpayer and the constant calls for workers to take pay cuts.
"The Government has no mandate for the slash-and-burn policies it is pursuing and if the Taoiseach cannot rein in those elements in the Department of Finance who appear determined to wreck the economy, and the country, then he should call it a day and call a general election.
"Until now, I have refrained from making such a call as I do not believe it is good for trade union leaders to put ourselves at such odds with the Government.
"But the country should be afforded the opportunity to make a choice between those who believe that ordinary people should pay the price for the economic catastrophe and those who favour a national initiative for recovery based on the principle that those who have the most should contribute the most."
Mr Lenihan told the MacGill school on Tuesday night that if the minimum wage in a particular sector became an impediment to job-creation, the Government would have to address it in that context.
The school also heard a presentation from Colm McCarthy, chairman of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, the so-called Bord Snip Nua, which has recommended a 5 per cent cut in social welfare to save about €850 million in a full year.
Mr Begg said yesterday: "It really has maddened me this week to see all of these attacks on social welfare rates, on minimum wage rates that have come from the elite who have made it up here to Donegal.
"They don't actually realise the chasm that is opening up between them and ordinary people and it has reached the stage in public discourse in Ireland where the most preposterous proposals can be put forward and accepted as being legitimate and I reject that absolutely and completely."
He also believed it would be "economically daft" to take such measures.
Asked what the likely response of the trade unions would be to cuts in the minimum wage and/or social welfare rates, he replied: "Total opposition to it. We would not countenance it under any set of circumstances."