The Government has ruled out postponement of the National Minimum Wage legislation, which is due to come into force on April 1st. The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland called for implementation to be deferred until "the end of the summer", saying there was insufficient time for businesses to become familiar with the details.
The CCI proposal drew a strong response from the SIPTU general secretary, Mr John McDonnell, when he spoke to the Ballinasloe branch a.g.m. of the union in Galway last night. "There cannot be a soul in the country who, by now, does know just how long it's taken the Government, and particularly the employers, to agree minimum standards of pay," he said. He said the terms of the national minimum wage had to be implemented to honour the terms of the national agreement. Most SIPTU members can expect the first phase of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness to apply from April. Any delay would therefore adversely affect them.
"Firstly, the minimum rate must be applied, and then the terms of the new national agreement on top of that," Mr McDonnell said. This would ensure a real minimum pay rate of £4.99 an hour by 2001 and £5.22p an hour by 2002.
However, he warned members against complacency in thinking the PPF would automatically be voted through. "In the absence of acceptance of this agreement, the statutory minimum wage would not reach £5 per hour before 2003. Acceptance of the PPF will lock both the Government and employers into providing for the £5 target to be achieved one year earlier in 2002 for all workers and two years earlier for unionised workers."
The Irish Business and Employers Confederation failed to support the CCI yesterday. IBEC's social policy director, Mr Brendan Butler, said his organisation's position remained that set out in the PPF.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said the introduction of a national minimum wage on April 1st remained the position of the Government "and will not be postponed".
The Free Legal Aid Centres issued a statement yesterday criticising the legislation as inadequate, because it allowed fringe payments such as shift premiums and benefit-in-kind to be factored into the calculation of the £4.40p.