UNION REACTION:THE HEAD of one of the country's largest trade unions has rejected proposals to reduce the minimum wage and called on the public to support a mass protest in Dublin on Saturday against the Government's "cruel agenda" of cuts.
Jack O’Connor, general president of Siptu, said yesterday demands to cut the minimum wage echoed the agenda of the elite in society, who were “cheerleaders for the property bubble”.
Reacting to news that the Government plans to reduce the €8.65 per hour minimum wage, he criticised business leaders who want to “restructure the social architecture of Ireland” and oblige the vulnerable in society to shoulder the proposed cutbacks.
He said everyone who adheres to the “principles of decency and fair play” should reject this cruel agenda and demonstrate their opposition to it by participating in the protest on Saturday.
The march, which has been organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, is calling on the Government to find a better and fairer way to repair the economy.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said yesterday the minimum wage would have to be looked at as part of the Government’s recovery plan because it had “increased far beyond the rate of inflation” over recent years. It is expected the minimum wage will be reduced to €7.65.
Mr Lenihan also hinted the public sector pay and reform deal, known as the Croke Park agreement, could be revisited as part of discussions with the IMF team under an annual review mechanisms written into the agreement.
Ictu general secretary David Begg said he was “taken aback” by the suggestion from Mr Lenihan that the minimum wage would be looked at because unions had had good contacts on the issue with Government last week.
“It is an extraordinary thing that the first target in this crisis happens to be the most vulnerable. There needs to be some threshold of decency below which they shouldn’t go,” he said.
DUBLIN MARCH CUTBACK PROTEST
TRADE UNIONS are hopeful tens of thousands of people will take part in the “March for a Better Way” in Dublin on Saturday to try to persuade the Government not to implement savage cutbacks in the budget. Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg said Ictu was making every effort to ensure there would not be a repeat of the recent violent clashes between gardaí and students in Dublin.
He said 200 to 250 stewards would attend the protest, which had been deliberately arranged for 11.30am to reduce the risk of trouble. The route of the march, which starts at Wood Quay and ends at the GPO on O’Connell Street, avoids major government buildings in case they become “magnets for protest”, he said.