Ireland's largest union criticised Government plans to introduce 'inability to pay' provisions to allow employers to avoid paying legally binding minimum wages in certain sectors.
This is done through mechanisms known as Employment Regulation Orders and Registered Employment Agreements covering hundreds of thousands of workers in sectors including agriculture, hairdressing, contract cleaning and catering.
Speaking at the launch, SIPTU Dublin Regional Secretary Patricia King said the introduction of such inability to pay provisions would undermine legislation protecting low-paid workers and allow what she called 'the cowboys' to undercut decent employers who wanted to pay their employers the legally binding rates.
The union said there was also pressure mounting to cut the national minimum wage, which currently stands at €8.65 per hour.
She also forecast that there would then be pressure to cut social welfare to ensure that an incentive to work was maintained.
Ms King said certain groups were trying to make labour a commodity which it was not. Labour was human beings who deserved a decent wage for the hard work they do, she said.
She said the sins of the greedy were being paid for by the sweat of the poor.
SIPTU plans to invite representatives of employer bodies to meet low-paid workers face-to-face in a bid to convince them of the need for fair rates of pay.
