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New pay talks must deliver on pay, exploitation and upskilling

Date Released: 17 Apr 2008

SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor told the ICTU Special Delegate Conference on entering a new round of pay talks today that unions should be prepared to “engage fully” with employers and the Government on pay increases in the context of the wider economic problems the country faces. But he criticised the “disingenuous campaign under way on inflation that is pitting jobs against wage costs”.

He said that the issues of pay, protecting labour standards, especially for the most vulnerable groups of workers, and upskilling were all inter-related. This is why SIPTU is emphasising the importance of securing equality of treatment for agency workers as a critical part of any talks.

“There is no point in securing a wage increase if tens of thousands of our members never see it because they have been displaced by agency workers,” he told delegates.  The other key issues that have to be addressed as a matter of urgency are adequate resources to address our enormous skills deficit. This requires  a comprehensive programme of education and retraining, matched with the resources to meet the challenge and increase the employability of workers, especially those made redundant.





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