UNITE the Union Launches ‘The Truth About Irish Wages’

national | worker & community struggles and protests | press release Monday April 14, 2008 14:16 by Michael Taft

A damning analysis of European wage levels has found that Ireland lies rock bottom of the list of the average wages paid in the private sector across the ten wealthiest countries in the European Union.

In a report – ‘The Truth About Irish Wages’ - published today by trade union Unite in the run up to national pay talks, it emerges that Irish wage levels are 25 per cent below the average for this peer group and 11 per cent below average even when the list is extended to the EU-15 countries.

“Ministers and business leaders are fond of lecturing us about wage levels,” says Unite regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly “but they are misleading the public. Working people know that, and this report paints the truth in stark colours that cannot be ignored.”

“Quite simply, relative to our European peers, we are a low-waged economy. The story that is being spun by business leaders and Government ministers – that Irish wages are too high – has no basis in fact.”

The report analyses private sector wages, the effect of high living costs, the derisory level of PRSI that employers pay and how business commentators and Government ministers distort wage data to give an impression of a high-waged country.

The full report can be found here: http://www.tgwu.org.uk/shared_asp_files/GFSR.asp?NodeID...94219

A synopsis of the report can be found here: http://notesonthefront.typepad.com/politicaleconomy/200...#more

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