The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has called on the Government to make tax concessions to business dependant on employers agreeing "a fair minimum wage". The ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, says that members of the Small Firms Association should "hang their heads in shame" for admitting that they pay the vast majority of employees less than £5 an hour. He was responding yesterday to a series of statements by representatives of small industry opposing the introduction of a national minimum wage. Besides the SFA, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise association, has protested that many of its members would go out of business if they had to pay the minimum rate of £5 an hour demanded by the ICTU.

Mr Cassells says such an approach is unacceptable to congress and would undermine the partnership and consensus approach which has been underpinning our record levels of economic growth. "The disturbing revelation by the Small Firms Association that three-quarters of the firms in their recent survey pay their workers less than £5 per hour, makes a powerful case in favour of the need for a fair minimum wage.

"The survey also confirms the congress position that the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system is totally ineffective, with less than one in 10 firms surveyed saying that their workers were covered by existing minimum wage legislation. No amount of tinkering around with the JLCs will substitute for a national minimum wage," Mr Cassells says.

"Instead of supporting the efforts of the National Minimum Wage Commission to establish a fair minimum wage which would allow all business to compete on a level and fair playing pitch, the SFA is attempting to use these shameful figures to blackmail the commission by threatening widespread job losses if a fair wage is introduced."