Fórsa General Secretary and former ICTU President Kevin Callinan has reiterated that workers and their families are the victims of inflation, not the cause.

Speaking at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions biennial conference in Kilkenny, the outgoing ICTU President spoke to over 600 delegates about excessive company profits and their impact on inflation.

“At a time of very healthy profits (for many companies) and buoyant public finances, the Government is presiding over a significant fall in living standards due to rampant inflation in energy and food costs. Let’s be clear, many authoritative sources – even from within the European Central Bank – have acknowledged that excessive profits are the key driver of soaring inflation rates not wages.

“When the current inflationary problems hit, we were told initially by the powers-that-be that the spike in inflation would be temporary. When it wasn’t, then it was due to supply chain pressures and the war in Ukraine. Of course, the old chestnut of workers’ incomes being the problem is now being rolled out and we’re being warned about the risk of a wage/price inflationary spiral when what we’re actually experiencing is greedflation. Let me be very clear, workers and their families are the victims of inflation – they are not the cause,” he said.

Kevin continued by saying that the trade union movement acknowledges that while inflation is an enemy, unions cannot allow the current situation to continue whereby workers are bearing a disproportionate share of the burden while many companies profiteer.

“Our movement has a responsibility to defend the living standards of ordinary people especially at a time when we are seeing a further shift in wealth from labour to capital after more than 40 years of drift in that direction. We have seen the movement in the north take action on this issue with so many disputes taking place as workers stand up to the Tories. As President of Congress, I am sending a clear message from this conference to Government and employers – north and south – that declining incomes in real terms will not be tolerated when the resources are clearly there to avoid it.”

Kevin concluded his speech on inflation by sending a clear message to Government and employers that declining incomes in real terms will not be tolerated when the resources are clearly there to avoid it.

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