Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 28 Jun 1990

Vol. 400 No. 6

Written Answers. - Minimum Wage Extension.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

24 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Labour whether he has considered extending the areas where minimum wages are fixed by a Joint Labour Committee in order to cover sections where, due to poor labour organisations, persons seeking employment are apt to be paid very poor wages.

Minister for Labour (Mr. B. Ahern)

It is open to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions or any individual trade union to apply to the Labour Court to have a joint labour committee established. Congress have suggested a number of areas where new joint labour committees might be established or the scope of existing committees extended.

Applications have been made to the Labour Court for the inclusion of areas outside Dublin in the Contract Cleaning JLC and for the establishment of a new JLC to cover the Retail Grocery and Allied Trades.

The Industrial Relations Bill at present before the House contains measures to facilitate and speed up the establishment of new JLCs. The Bill also provides that the proposed new Labour Relations Commission will carry out periodic reviews to determine whether new JLCs should be established or existing JLCs extended.