Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said the Government is united on the path he is taking to overhauling wage setting agreements.
Mr Bruton said the Government is committed to radical reform in the area and has charged him with developing proposals. He said the Government's decision will be taken in due course.
The Minister also said he had the full support of the Taoiseach and that discussions have taken place at Cabinet level.
The proposals would see pay cuts for low paid workers due to the loss or reduction of overtime and Sunday premium payments - triggering effective pay cuts for over 200,000 workers in sectors such as retail, grocery, security and hairdressing.
The minister said the reforms were essential to protect jobs in sectors that had suffered badly in recent years.
This morning, a statement from Mr Bruton's spokesperson said that each of the proposals set out by the Minister arise from the report of the independent review.
'The vast majority of the proposals follow recommendations of the report; a small number arise from issues raised by the report in areas where specific recommendations would have been beyond its remit', the statement said.
Minister for Communications Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte has said he ‘supports modernisation’ of the Joint Labour Committees and defended Minister Bruton's right to ‘influence proposals’ being brought to Cabinet.
He told journalists in Brussels that Minister Bruton had Cabinet approval to publish the proposals and make his views clear.
However the Minister added that ‘no decisions’ had been taken and that Government would have to be ‘very careful’ before ‘tampering’ with low paid workers pay packets.
Asked about the drive to lower unit labour costs from organizations like the OECD, Mr Rabbitte said he was ‘sceptical’ that targeting lower paid workers first would lead the country on ‘the path of growth’.
Asked about whether people should be paid the same for working Sunday, he said there was usually a financial recognition for working on a Sunday.
Kenny support
Meanwhile, Enda Kenny said his comments yesterday that Minister Bruton had a 'personal agenda' in relation to Joint Labour Committees are not what some people want them to be.
Mr Kenny said people should not be reading things into it.
He said a decision was made in the Programme for Government that there would be reforms.
Minister for Health Dr James Reilly also denied there was a split in Government over the proposals.
Dr Reilly said it came up at Cabinet and this is the normal dynamic of any Government.
Every proposal that comes forward does not meet with universal enthusiasm every time, he said.
It is not problematic, he said, but different people have different views and those views will be manifested in the changes in the law that come about.
