An economy which works for workers rather than billionaires must be built in Ireland, SIPTU Deputy General Secretary, Greg Ennis, told delegates attending the Union’s Services Division Conference in Galway.
Calling for Government action on providing workers in Ireland with a legal right to collective bargaining, which would ensure employees can engage as a group with their employers in negotiations on terms and conditions of employment, Ennis said: “We all know that collective bargaining can ensure a fairer distribution of worker generated wealth. Central Statistics Office data collated from 2011-2022 confirms that in the absence of collective bargaining, the earnings of the top 1% in Ireland grew by 46%, the earnings of the top 10% grew by 38% and the remaining 90% saw their earnings grow by just 26% during that 11-year period.
“In 2024, the Republic of Ireland’s eleven billionaires saw their wealth grow by €13 billion. These facts arise from a clearly skewed Government policy. It has opposed collective bargaining to date and clearly favours the rich and their friends in business.”
Highlighting the Government’s decision to pause the introduction of improvements in statutory occupational sick pay and tax relief on trade union subscriptions, Ennis said this clearly showed where its priorities lie.
He added: “This pausing and denial of much needed workers benefits is in complete contrast to the €19.4 billion bequeathed to business during the pandemic, the €333 million supports to business to deal with the fallout of Brexit, alongside the recently increased cost of business grant. Employers in Ireland pay PRSI of 2.2% of GDP, the average in the EU is 8.3%. What about workers, where is their additional supports – denied rights to collective bargaining and an 80 cent increase on the minimum wage? Well, that’s simply not good enough!
Ennis also called for greater action to halt the genocide of the Palestinian people. He said: The Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu approved the indiscriminate slaughter of thousands of innocent children, women, and men with over 47,000 Palestinians now dead and 15,000 missing under rubble and presumed dead.
“While SIPTU welcomes the ceasefire and the ongoing exchange of hostages on both sides, the rebuilding of Gaza needs to be supported by the same nations who directly contributed to its destruction, and may I add, for the Palestinian people and not as some Trumpian playground.”