The Taoiseach has been warned that the Government must take practical measures to tackle low pay if there is to be any possibility of a new national agreement. Talks between unions, employers and the Government on a deal to succeed Partnership 2000 open tomorrow at Government Buildings.
The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, set the scene for those talks last night, promising that the Budget on the first of next month would contain "the biggest tax breaks ever" for lower earners and the largest increases yet in child benefit. This evening, in a letter to the Taoiseach, the country's second largest union, MANDATE, set out what it believes should be the minimum demands from trade unions.
The union's General Secretary, Owen Nulty, said that the Budget should remove thousands of low-paid workers from the tax net. He also said that the Government should publish before Christmas the legislation for a realistic national minimum wage. MANDATE also warned that, if partnership were to have any meaning in the future, then clauses in job contracts from some employers banning trade union membership should be outlawed.
