SIPTU has slammed what they have described as ‘craven attempts’ by IBEC, the employers body, to pressurise the Government into pausing further increases in the minimum wage and improvements in statutory sick pay.
Incoming SIPTU Deputy General Secretary for the Private Sector, Greg Ennis, said: “It is incredible that IBEC seeks to place hundreds of thousands of low paid workers to the back of the queue when it comes to getting a fairer share of the wealth that they produce.
“Many of these same workers were lauded by IBEC as essential during the pandemic and rightly recognised as frontline heroes. That has now been forgotten about as IBEC seeks to deny basic improvements in their wages and conditions in favour of the relentless drive to rinse more out of them in the pursuit of profit and shareholder dividends.
The reality is that Ireland, despite some modest improvements over the last number of years still lags way behind the rest of Europe when it comes to sick pay, maternity pay and the ability of workers to collectively bargain with their employer for improvements. This needs to change and IBEC should not stand in the way of such progress which will be of benefit to our society in general.”