Sir, – In his rush to defend discriminatory pay practices, Isme’s Neil McDonnell states: “The sub-minimum rates are not discriminatory; in the same way, voting age, age-related control of alcohol and tobacco, driver licensing, service-related pay increments, and the requirement to be 21 years old to stand for election as a TD are not discriminatory on age ground.” (“Should lower wages for under-20s be abolished?”, Opinion, September 17th).
Discrimination is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as treating a person or particular group of people differently, especially in a worse way from the way in which you treat other people because of their race, gender, sexuality, etc.
The practice of paying workers under 20 less than those aged 20 and above for the same work is, by its nature, discrimination.
Mr McDonnell attempts to justify that discrimination. But such discrimination is not justifiable.
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Employment is the exchange of labour for money. If two people give the same amount of labour for the same tasks but are given different amounts of money, it is undeniably a form of discrimination between the two individuals.
Jamie Mac Giolla Bháin, however, is correct: equal pay for equal work is a concept we should value and uphold. – Yours, etc,
TOMÁS HENEGHAN,
East Wall,
Dublin 3.
