Cóir Date: 30.09.2009

Cóir has rejected what is described as "hysterical outbursts" from Yes campaigners in relation to Cóir's No to Lisbon campaign on the right to earn a living wage.
 
"Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are now hysterical about Cóir's campaign, but the fact of the matter is that the right to earn even the minimum wage is being hammered by the EU Court and that situation is copperfastened by the treaty," said Richard Greene of Cóir.

Mr Greene said that throughout the campaign, supporters of the treaty had refused to debate the issue, choosing to hide behind press statements and stunts, while shouting about lies.
 
"If this treaty is passed then the real liars willl be exposed," said Mr Greene. "When foreign contractors are importing cheap labour and paying them the minimum wage of their country of origin, then Irish workers will have to take that rate or stay on the dole."
 
“The facts are that the Irish political parties have shown they care nothing about the protection of workers and the right to earn a living wage,” said Mr Greene. “They could have spoken up last year when the EU Court made its ruling in the Ruffert case, which demolished the right to earn even the minimum wage, but they kept silent. They could have lobbied for an opt-out from Protocol 27 of the Lisbon Treaty which copperfastens Ruffert, Laval and other judgments which found against workers’ rights, but they didn’t bother. The truth is they are far more interested in riding the gravy train than in protecting workers.”
 
In the 2008 Ruffert case, the ECJ found that a Polish sub-contractor had the right to bring Polish workers to Germany and pay them less than the German minimum wage. Cóir’s No to Lisbon posters have highlighted the consequences of this ruling for Irish workers, to the dismay of the government and Yes campaigners.
 
“This ruling means that in real life, Irish workers can work for below the Irish minimum wage or see their jobs go elsewhere,” said Mr Greene. “When a contractor can import unfortunate foreign workers and pay them slave labour wages, Irish people who want to earn even the Irish minimum wage will have to stay on the dole. That will be the reality of the situation if Lisbon is passed.”

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For information please contact Richard Greene on 087 9724525