ICTU slams retailers over 9% services inflation

The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has accused a minority of greedy retailers of putting enormous pressure on ordinary working people.

David Begg said selfish business people in the services sector are pushing up prices solely to increase their own profits.

Mr Begg said inflation in the services sector is currently running at 9% - twice the national average – and he insisted that this cannot be blamed on high wage demands.

He pointed to a recent Forfas report which found that the highest price increases since the euro changeover were found in pubs, hairdressers and pharmacies, all sectors which are not known for high wages.

Mr Begg said the trend whereby some service providers can increase prices at will cannot be allowed to continue.

“It seems to me that our biggest problem is that people are effectively trying to maximise their profits and are sinking it into customers as hard as they possibly can,” he said.

“A lot of us don’t challenge these things, we simply pay up. It’s an extraordinary thing that we are the dearest country in Europe to have a cup of coffee in, we are the dearest for drink, for a whole range of things like that and it’s putting an enormous amount of pressure on ordinary working people.”