Unions warn over wage structures

Trade unions have today warned that attempts to dismantle wage-setting mechanisms will be resisted.

Trade unions have today warned that attempts to dismantle wage-setting mechanisms will be resisted.

The warning comes after the Government signalled yesterday it is to seek reductions in the terms, conditions and pay rates of a potential cohort of 240,000 workers protected under long-standing sectoral agreements.

The changes, which will result in pay decreases for some workers in rates for overtime and for working anti-social hours, will be introduced in exchange for reversing the €1 cut in the national minimum wage. Some 60,000 workers are currently on the national minimum wage.

The previous minimum wage of €8.63 per hour is to be restored as part of a revised agreement on Ireland’s €67 billion loan package with the bailout “troika” of the International Monetary Fund, the EU Commission and the European Central Bank.

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Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore told the Dáil today the reversal of the cut in the national minimum wage was not conditional on anything. He was replying to Opposition TDs, including Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, who said the minimum wage proposal was joined by one to cut the wages and conditions of workers.

Siptu president Jack O'Connor said this afternoon it appeared that the bailout "troika" were under the impression that an agreement had been made with the previous government to eliminate wage-setting mechanisms.

He called on Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin to publicly clarify as to whether any additional commitment other than that which is written in the Memorandum of Agreement with the troika and which provides for a review of the wage-setting mechanisms was entered into.

"While acknowledging a justification for reform and modernisation of the mechanisms, the trade union movement will vigorously resist any attempt to dismantle them as they are critical to the minimal conditions enjoyed by the most vulnerable workers," said Mr O'Connor.

Speaking in the Dáil earlier today, Mr Gilmore said an independent review of the joint labour committee (JLC) system had been under way for some time, headed by Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy.

The review is due to report in the next couple of weeks. "A commitment was given in the programme for government, too, that there would be a review of the joint labour committee system and the employment regulation order that applies to it," he said.

The committees, which have union and employer representatives, set pay rates in various sectors which are then made legally binding.

Elsewhere, Minister of State for Public Expenditure Brian Hayes warned today that the issue of cutting public sector pay may "come back on the agenda" if job numbers aren't reduced.

His comments come after his Cabinet colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said that many parts of the Irish public service, as they currently operated, were “not fit-for-purpose.”

Mr Howlin praised the commitment of public servants but argued the need for “a leaner, more efficient service”.