Paltry pay proposal prompts ICTU withdrawal
by Niall Shanahan
 
Congress general secretary Patricia King said it became clear during discussions that other members of the Commission were not prepared to propose an increase higher than 1%, or 10 cent an hour, next year.
Congress general secretary Patricia King said it became clear during discussions that other members of the Commission were not prepared to propose an increase higher than 1%, or 10 cent an hour, next year.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has withdrawn from the Low Pay Commission (LPC), the Government-established body that makes recommendations on the rate of the statutory minimum wage.

 

Congress general secretary Patricia King said it became clear during discussions that other members of the Commission were not prepared to propose an increase higher than 1%, or 10 cent an hour, next year.

 

The statutory minimum wage was belatedly increased to €10.10 for most workers last February. Patricia said ICTU could not now support a recommendation below 2% for the lowest-paid workers in the country.

 

“If we have learned anything as a society in this pandemic it is that we must value work and those who carry it out. We must make work pay. Many of the workers on the minimum wage are essential workers who have helped keep our economy going through this Covid-19 pandemic.

 

“There can be no going back to the old ways where the lowest paid are left behind. We will continue to campaign for a just increase,” she said.

 

ICTU has also called on the Government to align the national minimum wage with the higher non-statutory ‘living wage,’ which is a measure of the income needed to support a socially acceptable standard of living.

 

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