andMr. Sylvester Barrett asked the Minister for Labour if he is aware of the growing concern in the community for the plight of the lower income group of workers; and what action he intends taking to rectify this position.
74.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Lower Income Group Workers.
73.
andMr. Sylvester Barrett asked the Minister for Labour if he will seek agreement from trade unions and vocational associations which represent the middle and higher income groups to the withholding of status claims arising out of improvements in the wages of the lower income group.
I propose, with your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 73 and 74 together.
It has been made clear many times, in the Dáil and elsewhere, that it is the wish of the community that pay and conditions should continue to be settled by the processes of bargaining which have been developed in this country.
The Government do not propose to interfere with those processes, and neither, as far as I am aware, do employers or workers.
There is a desire, which the Government share, to improve the position of the lower-paid worker. However, this cannot be done through the wage structure as long as the better paid classes insist on using to the full the bargaining power which they have under our system.
When speaking in the House on the 26th November on the Financial Resolutions, I invited attention to this and urged that better off sections should be prepared to let the lot of the lower paid worker improve without making demands for maintaining differentials.
Without asking the Government to interfere in ordinary wage negotiations, would the Minister and his colleagues in the Government set a good example by paying a reasonable wage to the lower paid Government employees who are at subsistence level—forestry workers, postmen and, indeed, employees of the Office of Public Works? The two Deputies who put down this question could be asked to lend a hand. They are obviously interested in this sort of thing. Would the Minister raise the matter with the Minister for Social Welfare with a view to ensuring that such people will receive more social welfare benefits?
That is a separate question.
I hope the implications in the reply are fully appreciated by Deputies who through staff associations, trade union activities and conciliation and arbitration, seek to promote the interests of the better off classes in the community.
There is no conciliation or arbitration for Government employees at the lower levels.
Once you have free collective bargaining inevitably this situation arises.
(Interruptions.)
Is the Deputy for or against preserving differentials?
Is it true that some higher civil servants have got pay increases of as high as £500 a year and that the Government will sanction them?
Why do the Government not set the example they are talking about?
We are taking our example from the trade union movement.
What about the £9 10s a week?
(Cavan): Is the Minister aware that the two Deputies who put down these two questions did not avail of the opportunity the day before yesterday to support the claim for justice to be done to the lower paid workers by a revision of the income tax code? They voted against it.
That is a separate question.