USI calls on Government to end 'wage discrimination'

Students have today called for an end to adult "wage discrimination" at the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) annual congress today.

Delegates voted to lobby the Government for the abolition of differential (adult) minimum wages.

Congress condemned the fact that thousands of adult workers are excluded from the normal minimum wage of €8.65 per hour because they do not meet the minimum wage law’s definition of "experienced workers".

Instead, adult employees in the first year of employment can be paid a differential minimum wage of just €6.92, rising to €7.79 per hour in the second year of employment.

"A licence for employers to exploit young adult workers" is how USI equality officer Ryan Griffin described the current three-tier pay schedule.

USI president Hamidreza Khodabakhshi said: "Students have condemned wage discrimination among over 18s, and call on the Government to implement a single adult minimum wage.

"There can be no justification for excluding thousands of adult workers from the normal minimum wage of €8.65 an hour.

"To say that some adult workers are not properly ‘experienced’ is making a spurious distinction. An adult is an adult and all are equal before the law - or at least they ought to be."

Separately at Congress, students will not at this time lobby the Government for the morning after pill to be made available without prescription. A motion on the issue resulted in a tied vote.