Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 December 2004
8 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has received the review of the national minimum wage being carried out by the Labour Court in accordance with commitments in the mid-term review of Sustaining Progress. [33557/04]
Amharc ar fhreagra17 Mr. O’Shea asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment when he expects to receive the results of the review of the national minimum wage that the Labour Court was asked to undertake by the social partners under the terms of the Sustaining Progress agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33736/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 17 together.
In accordance with the commitment in the mid-term review of part two of Sustaining Progress, the Labour Court has been asked to review the national minimum wage and this review is currently under way. As provided for in the legislation, the Labour Court will consult with such persons as it thinks appropriate in undertaking its examination of the minimum wage. If the Labour Court is satisfied that general agreement is reached between the parties as to an appropriate minimum wage, it will recommend the rate agreed. If, on the other hand, agreement is not reached between the parties, the Labour Court may still make a recommendation but in doing so it shall have regard to certain matters, such as the likely impact on employment and inflation.
I hope any recommendation arising from this review will be made known to me by the end of January 2005.
What effect will the review have on those who were removed from the tax net as a result of measures in budget 2005? Does the Minister expect that some or all of them will find themselves back in the tax net after May 2005? How many disputes have been brought to the labour inspectorate in the Department in respect of the minimum wage since it was introduced? Has the Minister data on the rate of compliance by employers with the requirements of the National Minimum Wage Act? If the Minister does not have that data or statistical information readily available, perhaps he would undertake to provide it to me.
I do not know at this stage what new minimum wage level will be recommended and am not, therefore, in a position to judge its impact on the changes announced in the budget. Any increase is likely to expose only a small proportion of a minimum-wage income to taxation according to the current bands.
In 2003, 950 inspections were carried out. A total of 435 were carried out this year to the end of November. Breaches of the Act were found in approximately 12% of inspections carried out between July and November 2004. I understand a similar rate of breaches obtains in figures for other periods. Approximately 57,000 people employed in non-agricultural firms in the private sector are on the minimum wage, which is 4.5% of the labour force. Approximately 14.6% of part-time workers earn the national minimum wage.
The information provided in the latter part of the Minister of State's reply refers to matters arising from inspections. Can he refer to my question on the number of disputes which may have been brought to the attention of the labour inspectorate within the Department? Does he have information on the number of disputes arising since the introduction of the minimum wage? Is there a method apart from inspection employed to ascertain the level of compliance across the board rather than with reference to a statistical selection of cases arising from inspections? Is there a means by which all employment positions are appraised and assessed and statistics produced?
Will the review examine the terms of the minimum wage in the context of section 15 of the National Minimum Wage Act which provides that young workers may receive a wage less than the minimum wage? In many cases, to my knowledge and I am sure the knowledge of other Deputies, young people work as hard and for as many hours as older counterparts but do not receive the same minimum wage.
I do not know what submissions have been made to the Labour Court on the minimum wage. It may well be that the issues raised by Deputy Ó Caoláin have been raised. I do not know if there will be an agreement or what recommendations the Labour Court will make.
The 4.5% statistic I quoted is an ESRI estimate for 2003. While I have information that there were 950 labour inspections, I do not know how many arose from complaints or what circumstances begat them. I will seek to obtain more detailed information if it is available and forward it to the Deputy.
Has any company been prosecuted on foot of the inspections for failing to observe the law and regulations on the minimum wage? My colleague, Deputy Michael Higgins, tabled a question on the significant proportion of the workforce composed of immigrant workers.
We are dealing with Question No. 17.
Can the Minister of State provide any assurance to such workers, especially those from outside the European Union, that the allegations heard from time to time of flagrant abuses of the minimum wage legislation are untrue and that the situation is being monitored closely? The increase in the minimum wage, which I hope will be significant, will almost certainly bring people back into the tax net next year. Has the Department carried out any study to determine the appropriate level of minimum wage?
In keeping with the appropriate approach to raising the minimum wage, I intend to wait for the recommendation of the Labour Court. The same level of employment protection is available to non-national workers as obtains for national workers. As with any such body, the labour inspectorate is dependent to an extent on the bringing of matters to its attention. We encourage people to do so on their own behalf or on behalf of others. While I do not have the figures on minimum wage cases, the inspectorate has been successful in court on a considerable number of occasions. A number of cases are before the courts and there have been several successful prosecutions on foot of the actions of the labour inspectorate.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
