ICTU: Scrap 'inadequate' unemployment welfare system and link payments to past earnings

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In a letter seen by The Journal, ICTU general secretary Patricia King has urged politicians from all parties to get behind a new trade union-led campaign to strengthen Ireland's 'threadbare social safety net'.

Image: Sasko Lazarov Image: Sasko Lazarov THE GOVERNMENT MUST bring forward plans to link unemployment benefits to previous pay levels and scrap the old flat-rate Jobseeker’s Benefits system, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has told politicians.

But King says the “relative generosity” of the €350 PUP payment compared to the standard jobseekers’ rate of €203 has highlighted the fact that the benefit is currently “inadequate to secure a worker’s normal living standards during temporary breaks in employment”. But by paying at a flat rate of €203, Ireland is an outlier among rich European Union member states, according to ICTU.

In her letter to Oireachtas members, she writes, “The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling for this deadline to be brought forward and on you, and every other politician in all political parties and none, to support our campaign to strengthening the social safety net for workers in the aftermath of the pandemic.”

“Europeans have a different mindset. They believe that what you’re paying in Pay Related Social Insurance is actually a form of insurance. It kicks then in if you lose your ability to earn because you fall or because you lose your job or you become sick.”

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First of all we have to ban our current social welfare for life & replace it with the social welfare for up to 3 years in a row or up to 10 years over a life span. Also we have to ban all social welfare/housing for non-Europeans. We will save billions on this.

Will pay-linked jobseeker's allowance be weighted to account for the discrepancies between pay rates for male and female employees? Will it take account of the fact women are more likely to leave work to become carers?

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