Brid Smith supports TEEU campaign to force employers to adhere to a recognised rates of pay

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In a statement today People Before Profit’s Dublin Euro MEP candidate declared her support for the TEEU campaign to force employers to adhere to a recognised rates of pay.

Commenting Brid Smith said: “Rogue employers launched a legal challenge to the Registered Employment Agreements and there is now a major battle afoot to keep €21.50 an hour rate.

“At a national level, the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment is receiving submissions about the correct rate but after a recent threatened national strike it has been agreed with two employer bodies to adhere to the existing rate for the moment. However even while this is underway, employers are continually trying to undermine the rate.

“Apprentices are being subject to massive intimidation to work overtime on flat rates. The big firms are using small sub-contractors who will pay electricians between €12 and €15 an hour. There is huge pressure to finish jobs quickly and the standard of work is bound to drop in these circumstances. One way this could be stopped is for the government to insist that all tenders for contracts for public buildings must be based on paying the proper rate for the job. It is within the power of the Minister for Education, to insist that all contracts to re-furbish schools or build new ones must include a clause that stipulates that there must be proper rates of pay.

“I fully support the TEEU campaign of protests at sites where sub –contractors are paying rates of pay that are more similar to those found in the fast food industry than to the rates that should be paid to skilled workers.”