By Michael O’Brien
The arrival of the right-wing independents into Government and the cabinet, in the place of the decimated Green Party, has better enabled Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to dispense with any pretence of ‘even-handedness’. On a host of issues, they are now openly dancing to the bosses’ and landlords’ tune.
This change in the composition of the Government, combined with the turmoil arising from the Trump tariffs and the fears of their consequences for the Irish economy, has laid the basis for a succession of announcements that are particularly detrimental to low-paid workers and renters.
Ditching the ‘living wage’
Foremost is the backtracking on the commitment to converge the statutory minimum wage with the ‘living wage’ by 2026. The Living Wage Technical Group, made up of Unite, SIPTU, and a number of NGOs and academics, calculates the living wage as the minimum hourly wage needed to support a decent standard of living. The current rate for this is €14.75 per hour, compared to the statutory minimum wage of €13.50. Minister for Finance Jack Chambers announced that this convergence would now happen over a more protracted period.
Similarly, the auto-enrollment of private sector workers into an occupational pension scheme, which employers would be required to contribute a mere 1.5% of salary (as opposed to anything from 5% to 10%, which would be standard in unionised workplaces) and which was scheduled for commencement in September, is likewise being pushed back.
For workers who rent, it gets worse. The Government has explicitly caved in to the investment funds and landlords. After over a decade of leaving the initiative to the private sector to resolve the State’s accommodation crisis, which has only made the situation worse, they have now announced the ending of the rent pressure zones, which, on paper, limited rent rises in select parts of the country to 2% per year.
A landlords government
The landlord lobby made a spurious case that this restriction (which had loopholes in any case) was causing landlords to exit the market. The figures say the opposite, with official figures recording a 5% increase in landlords in 2024 to just under 105,000. This announcement will undoubtedly exacerbate the homelessness crisis.
It is clear from these announcements that the government does not fear a strong reaction from the trade union movement. Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger, speaking about these regressive policy announcements on RTE’s ‘Week in Politics’ made a justifiable comment that the trade union movement had to make itself relevant in this situation. This comment has been received among some in trade union official circles as a rebuke rather than a necessary call to action. Where we cannot rely on a government to legislate for improved minimum wages and basic occupational pension conditions, it underlines that the initiative rests with the unions to step up their organising of the lower-paid and lodge serious pay claims that meet the cost of living crisis.
Struggle matters
Likewise, on the question of housing, the trade union movement needs to seriously commit to a struggle to force a change of course on this Government, emphasising the necessity for a major public house-building programme and strict rent controls that see them slashed and frozen at levels that are affordable.
It is illustrative that the one issue on which the Government has backed down was the question of effectively reintroducing water charges by the back door via an ‘excessive use’ charge. This was in the programme for government, but based on a backlash that reminded them of the people power movement of a decade ago, they announced they were not going to proceed – showing us the lasting benefits of militant struggle. This is the kind of working-class organisation we will need in a period of deepening capitalist crisis.
