It’s official! Dublin is the low pay capital of Europe. In the course of the Celtic Tiger boom billions of euro has poured out of Dublin in profits for the wealthy elite. But have young workers got their fair share? A quick look at our name and shame board will show they haven’t.

Young workers are being used as a source of cheap labour for profit-hungry employers. While the heads of multinational companies and the owners of pubs, restaurants and shops make millions yearly from the cheap labour of young people, young workers in this city are being paid as little as E4.81 an hour.

Massive profit of big business…Where does it come from?

In recent years employers have made huge profits. The capitalist media would like us to believe that is down to their entrepreneurial skill. In reality it is pitiful wages that have made sure that sweat shop bosses have made a financial killing. The massive profits of big business come directly from the exploitation of all workers. When they claim that they can’t afford to pay decent wages to young people, it’s because they want to maintain their massive profit.

Not content with paying their young staff poverty wages, many employers treat their workers with contempt. Health and safety regulations go out the window, laws on rest breaks and limiting the number of hours a young person can work are consistently flouted. In many cases workers are intimidated into staying on late (without extra pay of course!) and are generally given the worst jobs.

This exploitation doesn’t happen just because bosses are greedy people. It is part and parcel of the capitalist system whose only motivation is to make profit as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible. Therefore many companies make a point in employing workers under 18 so they can avoid paying them the minimum wage.

A recent survey found that out of 132 cities around the world, Dublin was the 22nd most expensive. The average cost of rent is over E1,200 a month, the average price of a house is 303,000 and the price of CD’s, socialising and entertainment put many of the basic "luxuries" of life out of reach of minimum wage workers.

When Mary Harney introduced the minimum wage in 2000 she heralded it as a blow against exploitation, poverty and inequality. In reality, the current minimum wage, with all its exemptions, has legalised low pay. For many young people, a part time job does not just pay for cinema tickets, CD’s or a night out, it goes towards paying for the increasing cost of education. If Mary Harney thinks the minimum wage is so great why doesn’t she or some of her big business backers try living on it!

If we had a real trade union movement in Ireland today, rather than the spineless careerists who pass for workers leaders, they would spend their time, not signing up to cosy deals with the bosses, but with fighting against low pay and 19 century conditions.

Therefore, Socialist Youth has launched this campaign to name and shame scrooge employers and to force them to concede what are only basic rights. Surely after 10 years of the Celtic Tiger boom, companies here can afford to pay their staff a living wage.

We will fight with any worker who wants to take on these sweatshop bosses. But we will also fight against the system that protects them, a system that has always, and will always put profit before people. While we will fight for every reform, every increase in wages, every improvement in working conditions, we will also fight for a system that will end the poverty, exploitation and inequality that is in-built in capitalism – a socialist society, where the fruit of the labour of workers is owned, controlled and enjoyed by those who produce the wealth. If this is how you feel, don’t get angry – get active. Join Socialist Youth today

WE DEMAND

* Name and shame all low pay employers.
* For the minimum wage to apply to ALL workers immediately
* For a €10 an hour minimum wage for all with no exemptions
* For a mass campaign to unionise all young and immigrant workers
* For a socialist society based on people not profit, through the democratic ownership, control and planning of wealth by ordinary people.

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