Chairman of Louth County Council Cllr Jimmy Mulroy, speaking in a debate about the abuse of workers by some employment agencies, said that while Irish people, "need €12.50 an hour, people from Lithuania are doing very well on €8.50 an hour." Mulroy, the owner of an electrical firm, later defended his remarks, arguing that many migrant workers were "very happy” with lower pay. Fianna Fail head office “disassociated” the party from the councillor's comments, but there was no suggestion of him being disciplined or deselected as a candidate.

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Of 60 UK cities Belfast has the lowest wages, £395.70 a week being the average. 22% of workers are in the ‘low pay sector’ and 8 of the 10 of the UK’s ‘economic blackspots’ are in Northern Ireland.
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Tom Parlon, former PD Minister and current director-general of the Construction Industry Federation, wants a reduction in builders’ pay “of up to 30%”. The construction industry has a Registered Employment Agreement - which sets legally binding minimum rates of pay and conditions. This multi-millionaire thinks that a worker getting €14.88 an hour should have it cut by almost a third.
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AIB has reported a pre-tax profit of €2.5 billion for 2007. Isn’t it nice to know that the high interest charged on your credit card and mortgage is making some very rich shareholders even richer?
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There has only been one prosecution in all of the 26 counties in the last two years for paying less than the minimum wage, despite the fact that 296 offences were detected.

From Workers Solidarity 102 the issue for March & April 2008

PDF of the Ulster edition of Workers Solidarity 102

PDF of the southern edition of Workers Solidarity 102