-ICTU Assistant General Secretary Owen Reidy commented:
"NIC ICTU welcomes in principle the announcement from the UK government which facilitates the topping up wages of workers on short time working, covering up to two-thirds of their hours for next six months.
"We had called on the Chancellor to avoid the cliff-edge of the ending of the furlough scheme next month citing that, as the virus remains a threat, the conditions remain to maintain the furlough scheme in full. With the Chancellors announcement today he has conceded the former while neglecting the latter.
"The avoidance of the cliff-edge is welcome, but this scheme is not intended to protect all jobs and it will lead to some redundancies. How many we do not yet know.
"However, what the scheme glaringly does not do is propose how we will reskill and retrain those that will ultimately become redundant. This is the inherent weakness and this must be addressed by government."
