PRAISING the Irish Congress of Trade Union’s call for a €2 increase in the national minimum wage, a local Labour councillor said that it is vital working people in Limerick are supported in the face of the worst cost of living crisis in forty years in this country.
The Government in-fighting on tax cuts, Cllr Conor Sheehan told the Limerick Post, is a shocking deflection for its own failures.
“Even if we were to take the measure in good faith, a proposed tax cut of a fiver or tenner a week will not make a meaningful dent for hard-pressed working people in Limerick when grocery inflation is running at over 16 per cent,” Cllr Sheehan commented.
“Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil fighting it out on television and radio like cats in a sack is embarrassing. We all know there isn’t a cigarette paper between them on any issue. People in Limerick want to see meaningful investment in public services like healthcare and childcare.”
The Labour Party, Cllr Sheehan continued, fully supports ICTU’s calls to increase the minimum wage over the next two years, an end to the two-tier pay system where adults aged 18 and 19 are treated like children and to ensure that apprentices are paid the full minimum wage.
“The Government’s commitment to moving the minimum wage to Living Wage over four years rings very hollow given that national minimum wage as a share of median earnings did not change last year, remained stuck at 51.8 per cent, and leaves a lot of heavy lifting to this year and beyond.
“Too many young people, women workers, and migrant workers in Limerick continue to carry out the most vital work in this country for paltry wages.
“As the ICTU submission points out, despite a seven per cent increase to the minimum wage for 2023, the incomes of workers on minimum wages have fallen in real terms by 4.4 per cent over the past three years.
“Workers in Limerick are having to cope with an unprecedented spike in the cost of living, a spike that is affecting every household, individual, family and community across Ireland. The costs of rent, housing, food, childcare, and basic services are rising. That’s before we even mention the price gouging going on by the large retailers of basic items like bread and milk. Ireland needs a pay rise,” he concluded.
