Irish Congress of Trade Unions: Further 200,000 people will lose jobs due to coronavirus

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions says a further 200,000 people will lose their jobs in Ireland in the coming days because of coronavirus.

The group says that is on top of the 140,000 workers who have already been laid off.

The ICTU says it's nearly as bad as the total number of jobs lost in the first two and a half years of the economic crash.

General Secretary of the ICTU, Patricia King, wrote to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday and is calling on the government to take further measures.

She said: “There should be now a necessary contingency put in place.

“Whereby workers who are being laid off as part of this emergency health situation should have their net income preserved.

“Extensive companies will face closures and lay-offs over the next number of weeks.

“And we think workers should be enabled to have their net income preserved.”

Yesterday, Minister for Social Protection, Regina Doherty announced that Revenue will implement the system to refund employers who continue to pay their laid-off staff €203 per week during the Covid-19 outbreak.

It came as the Department revealed it got more than

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Minister Doherty said: “The measures taken already are extraordinary but this is an extraordinary time. There is great uncertainty and much anxiety about what lies ahead.

"The loss of a job and an income increases this anxiety and stress. We are doing all we can to help people through this anxiety.

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