Lenihan denies calling for cuts in employer profits

TRADE unions have maintained the Government should be pushing for the cuts in employer profits demanded by the Finance Minister Brian Lenihan yesterday — even though the minister has since said his comments were misinterpreted.

In the report Mr Lenihan was quoted as warning employers to sacrifice profits if they wanted to revive the collapsed pay talks.

However, Mr Lenihan’s department has since claimed he had made no such call, saying he had merely called for sacrifices from all sides in an echo of earlier comments by the Taoiseach that the top brass in the private sector should think about moderating their own pay increases when expecting their employees to put up with wage restraint.