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The government will intensify its efforts to ensure that workers are entitled to a living wage instead of the national minimum wage, Dáil Tánaiste and the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, told today.
Mr. Varadkar said that the Low Pay Commission, which currently recommends the National Minimum Wage, could be transformed into a Living Wage Commission to make recommendations on what a living wage should be.
However, he cautioned that this would not happen until after a period of public consultation and increased engagement with employers and unions.
The current national minimum wage of € 10.10 per hour is projected to increase to € 10.20 from January 1.
However, the living wage calculated by the Vincentian Association is € 12.30 and is calculated on a different basis that would be more favorable to the workers.
Varadkar told Dáil that the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed some of the “weaknesses and inequalities” in the way the economy was structured.
“It has prompted us to re-evaluate the value of people’s work, the importance of so-called low-skilled workers in our daily lives, our preconceptions and our approach to public policy,” he said.
He said the government had tried to act quickly in areas that required immediate intervention and promised to introduce legislation for legal sick pay after a period of public consultation and engagement with the Labor Employers Economic Forum.
Mr. Varadkar referred to the commitment in the Program for Government to progress towards a living wage during the life of the Government.
“I’m looking at how we could transform the Low Wage Commission into a Living Wage Commission, a commission that collects data on the cost of living in an evidence-based way,” he told Dáil, adding that he would appreciate submissions on the to import.
The most recent recommendation from the Low Pay Commission was an increase of € 0.10 in the minimum wage, which will raise the rate to € 10.20 from January 1.
However, two union members of the commission, Irish Trade Union Congress General Secretary Patricia King and Mandate Secretary General Gerry Light, resigned after calling the recommended increase inappropriate.
Today, Ms. King welcomed the proposed initiative to move toward a living wage “if met.”
However, he cautioned that moving to a living wage would not be an easy job, given the scale of resistance from employers to even modest increases in the current national minimum wage.
A spokesman for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said the idea was in an “early stage of development” but said the terms of reference were expected to be changed to reflect this new purpose.
The composition of any possible new Living Wage Commission has not yet been decided.
Employers group Ibec says that the elements that are considered when calculating a living wage and a national minimum wage are very different.
In a statement, he said: “Given the number of factors included in the development of a living wage that are beyond the control of any employer, such as childcare, housing and transportation costs, any consideration of a living wage It should, Ibec believes, be addressed within the broader social dialogue frameworks and in conjunction with the work of the Taxation and Social Welfare Commission.
“A Living Wage Commission established on a similar basis to the Low Wage Commission failed to address the range of political failures that existed long before Covid, including the exorbitant cost of childcare and the absence of effective solutions to the crisis of the House”.
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