The nine-person Low Pay Commission, which includes SIPTU Vice-President and incoming Congress President, Patricia King, has been established to advise Government on the correct level to set the minimum wage.

In the coming weeks, the Commission will consult widely with unions, employers and civic society in order to inform its deliberations on the level at which the minimum wage should be set. It is expected to issue a preliminary report on the level of the minimum wage by mid- summer.

Already, some employer organisations have sought to dampen expectations of any significant increase to the minimum wage, which is currently set at €8.65 an hour. Indeed, there have been calls by ISME for the State to scrap the minimum wage and to subsidise profitable employers through greater social welfare and taxation transfers to low paid workers. This is neither fair nor a route to a sustainable recovery.

SIPTU members will be working with the Commission to ensure that the benefits of the improving economy are distributed to low paid and vulnerable workers. The recovery in domestic demand depends on workers gaining an increase in wages across the economy including a substantial improvement in the incomes of the lowest paid.