Unions want Government to cut millionaires’ earnings

THE Government has been told to “drag down” the earnings of Ireland’s millionaire minority whose wages are up to 350 times higher than the shop-floor worker.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions yesterday published its “state of the economy” document ahead of national pay talks which begin tomorrow.

A key premise of Economic Outlook 2008: Narrowing the Pay Gap is a blueprint ICTU wants the Government to adopt to stop the ever-rising wage packet of tax exiles and public and private top brass in the face of calls for wage restraint for the ordinary worker.

The report also warns that there may be no job creation at all this year — and notes that 15,000 new jobs would be a “good outcome” if compared to the 70,000 of last year.

The author of the report, the union’s economic adviser Paul Sweeney, published a number of antidotes to the shortcomings in the Government’s economic policy he claimed are allowing the high earners to escape paying millions in taxes.

He called for the termination of tax subsidies for “huge salaries for executives” as has happened in the US, where senior executives of publicly held corporations have to declare if their total remuneration exceeds $1,000,000 a year (€640,000) and profits.

“The limit should be set where executives are paid more than 15 times the average industrial earnings,” said Mr Sweeney.

A cap should also be placed on executive pay by not allowing bonuses to exceed one-third to one half of salary, according to the report. There should also be a reform of company law on transparency of executive remuneration with tighter legislation for all large companies, it said.

Meanwhile, reacting to Mr Begg’s remarks, IBEC director Brendan McGinty said the talks would be the most difficult since the process began in 1987.

“We intend to explore fully the potential for an agreement that safeguards jobs and investment, but not at any price. We are disappointed that the ICTU are indulging in what seems to be inflammatory and divisive comments at a time when we need to pull together,” he said.