Nash welcomes further drop in unemployment rates
“Decent work agenda almost entirely absent from Programme for Government”
Labour Senator Ged Nash has welcomed revised CSO figures released today which have shown a further drop in unemployment rates.
However he has slammed the fact that the decent work agenda promoted by Labour is almost entirely absent from the Programme for Government.
He said: “The job creation policies Labour promoted in government are working. Every region in the State is adding jobs and unemployment is falling in every region. Every new job is a life back on track and a family providing for itself again.
“It is very encouraging to see the unemployment rate fall below 8% for the first time since the economic and financial catastrophe of 2008.
“However, there is no room for complacency. Our ambition is to reach full employment by 2018 and it should never be a case of a job at any cost.
“Labour is the party of work and of working people. It is critical that the dignity of all workers is promoted and vindicated through the opportunity to engage in decent work in supportive and dynamic workplaces.
“The Fine Gael-Independents Programme for Government, supported by Fianna Fáil has little or no ambition to carry through on the reforms Labour started on zero hour and “if & when” contracts.
“There is a poverty of ambition for the National Minimum Wage and the programme contains no reference whatsoever to the concept of a Living Wage.
“The continuation of the radical employment rights reform agenda which Labour delivered in government is also predictably absent.
“This is despite the fact that there are some who purport to be social democrats who are sitting at the government table or as Ministers of State.
“The employment rights agenda has been one of the early and most notable casualties of this dysfunctional government.
“Labour will continue to campaign for better wages, fairer workplaces and decent quality jobs. This new administration must ensure that the economic recovery is sustained and that it reaches every household in the country through the opportunities for decent work.”