Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

In April 2012 the pensions policy officer of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, met representatives of the Department of Social Protection and was informed that it accepted congress's assertion that those with an average number of 29 annual contributions stood to lose €1,500 a year for life from next September. This is a grossly inequitable cut which targets a section of the workforce and will adversely affect vulnerable workers, particularly women. We believe that when these workers realise what has been done, they will simply not accept the cut.

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