GOVT. MUST WITHDRAW 'POTENTIALLY UNLAWFUL' AD

24 Jan 2011

Congress has called on the Minister for Enterprise to withdraw a 'potentially unlawful' Government advertisement that provides misleading advice on changes to the Minimum Wage.

Congress General Secretary David Begg has written to caretaker Minister Mary Hanafin requesting that she withdraws the advertisement, which appeared in a number of Sunday newspapers.

The official advertisement sets out the terms of the Ministerial Order that cuts the Minimum Wage by €1 - from €8.65 to €7.65 per hour. The cut is due to come into force on February 1.

Congress had already pointed out workers on the €8.65 rate cannot not have their pay cut - without their consent and agreement.

However, the Government ad appears to ignore this legal requirement and advises that "best practice suggests that any change in an employee's rate of pay would be agreed between the employer and employee."

"There is a profound difference between 'best practice' and legal necessity. It is a matter of both statute and contract law that there must be agreement between employees and employers before wages can be reduced," Mr Begg said.

"This is ad will cause massive confusion. Of course, the simplest solution would be to set aside the order to cut the Minimum Wage, which penalises the lowest paid for the sins of senior bank bosses. It will not save the taxpayer one cent or create a single new job.

"The Government - or what's left of it - also has to explain why it has rushed in this cut a full four months before the date mentioned in the IMF/ ECB bailout deal," Mr Begg said.

"What is so urgent? The IMF/ECB Memorandum of Understanding says the measure will be implemented by May 2011. But Minister O'Keefe chose to cut the wage as the last act of his ministerial and political career. Government needs to explain this - and the new Government needs to reverse this miserable measure," Mr Begg said.

 

Ends