Employment rights, public services, and social policy will be top of the agenda at day two of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions conference in Kilkenny today.
Yesterday President Michael D Higgins addressed the opening of the biennial conference at the Lyrath Hotel.
The theme of the conference is ‘Making Work Pay – Unions Transforming Work and Workplaces’.
Carlow Kilkenny Labour party chair Seán Ó hArgáin says there are still many industries in Ireland that still do not offer a living wage:
“In some ways, even though I love the industry, and I grew up in the industry, and it’s very
important for Kilkenny, industries like the tourism industry involve seasonal work, it’s non-permanent, and sometimes it’s not well paid. Michael D Higgins would have been one of the people who fought for the introduction of the minimum wage, but it’s still a long way away from the living wage, which the Irish Congress of Trade Unions is constantly pushing for.”
