British minimum wage will be lower than Irish equivalent

The minimum wage in Britain has been set at a lower level than the proposed Irish rate, a move likely to strengthen business opposition to the move here. The British government has announced a minimum wage of £3.60 sterling an hour from April next year - which translates into £4.14 - in a move that did not satisfy the unions and angered the Conservative Party.

Mr Brendan Butler, director of the Small Firms' Association, said the British decision confirmed that the Government decision to introduce a minimum wage here of £4.40 "flies in the face of reality".

He added that the Irish economy would now be faced with a loss of competitiveness against our largest trading partner.

"Our minimum wage will also be higher than in many other countries, including the US and Japan, " he added.

However, some EU countries have minimum wages at a higher level; in France, for example, the minimum wage is 39.43 francs (£4.60). But in the United States it is $5.15 (£3.65).

Whatever the opposition of business, the Government here is committed to introducing a minimum wage by April 1st, 2000, and the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has hinted it may be sooner.

The national minimum wage commission report found that 23 per cent of employees earn less than £4.40 an hour and the average increase for employees would be £40 a week.

Northern Irish workers will also benefit from the British move. Up to one in three Northern Irish workers are thought to earn less than £4 an hour

According to the British Minister for Trade and Industry, Ms Margaret Beckett, the minimum wage would help "two million workers to escape from poverty" and "begin to end the scandal" of very low pay.

But she stressed that it was being set at a business-friendly level "which avoided the risk of adverse effects on employment, inflation and the public sector borrowing requirement".

She added that the gap in hourly pay between the lowest and highest paid had almost doubled in the last 20 years. In Britain, both unions and the employers' body, the Confederation of British Industry, welcomed the move, but it was strongly attacked by the Conservative spokesman, Mr John Redwood. He said it was a curb on flexible work practices which have made Britain one of the most competitive places in Europe and a boost to inflationary pressures from rising wages.

But Mr Bill Morris, TGWU union general secretary, said £3.60 was too low. "Such a rate is an endorsement of workplace poverty and a green light to the bad employer."

However, Mr Adair Turner, director general of the CBI, said the figure was acceptable.