A coalition of trade unions and community sector organisations held a ceremony outside the gates of Dáil Éireann to publicly mark the cutting of the National Minimum Wage which came into effect on 1 February 2011 – Ireland’s Day of Shame.  The organisations have also joined forces to campaign for a reversal of the €1 per hour cut to the Minimum Wage and to protect Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) which have recently come under review

 

The rally heard a re-enactment of one of Jim Larkin's greatest speeches after which a 'roll of shame' of all TDs who had voted in favour of the wages cut was read out.

The coalition includes SIPTU, MANDATE, Migrant Rights Centre Ireland, The Poor Can’t Pay Campaign, The Community Platform, UNITE and The National Women’s Council.

“This cut to the National Minimum Wage will increase the numbers of ‘working poor’ and make it harder for people to escape poverty through securing decent work. On the contrary it will push more families onto social welfare. This is the direct opposite of what we need to be doing to rebuild our economy and society,” said Mike Allen, Spokesperson for The Poor Can’t Pay. “Cutting €40 a week from the pay packet of low paid workers will inevitably lead to ill-informed demands for similar cuts in welfare payments and a return to poverty levels not seen since the 1950s.”

 

According to John Douglas, MANDATE General Secretary, low paid workers did not cause this economic crisis, but the 30th Dáil made them pay for it.  “By cutting the Minimum Wage and initiating a review of Employment Regulation Orders, the Fianna Fáil-Green Government has brought shame to the Dáil,” says Mr. Douglas. 

 

“The cut of the Minimum Wage today from €8.65 to €7.65 will slash an additional €40 a week from the household budgets of tens of thousands of working families across Ireland – families that are already struggling to make ends meet, even more so with the additional taxes being taken from their weekly pay cheques,” says Anne Costello, spokeswoman for the Community Platform.  

 

“In difficult times, we know it's right to support working families, not to pull the rug out from under them,” says Susan McKay, Director of the National Women’s Council. “The Minimum Wage cut and ERO review will disproportionately impact on women and it will substantially increase the gender pay gap. It will not generate any new jobs, nor will it help to reduce the government deficit.”

 

According to Siobhán O’Donoghue, Director of MRCI, Ireland is the first country on record to cut its Minimum Wage.  “Ireland’s Minimum Wage has been consistently misrepresented as disproportionately high when this is not the case.  Other EU countries such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands have similar minimum wages, yet their cost of living is considerably lower.  In fact, other EU countries are continuing to increase minimum wages in the recession.” 

 

“Today we will take the first step to reclaiming our sovereignty and building a better Ireland, in the name of the 350,000 low paid workers in the engine room of our economy who depend on the minimum wage and EROs to support their families,” says Ethel Buckley, Campaign Co-ordinator, SIPTU.  “We will also be asking candidates in the general election to make a pledge that if elected they will defend the lowest paid workers by committing to reverse the cut to the minimum wage and to protect Employment Regulation Orders.  We will be asking candidates to put hard working families first – or they’ll put them last!”