PAY RATES:WAGE AGREEMENTS in catering and other industries will be independently reviewed by Fine Gael if it is in government after the general election, the party's spokesman for enterprise, jobs and economic planning said yesterday.
Richard Bruton said the agreements would be reviewed “rapidly” so that wage agreements “can be adjusted to the reality of doing business today”.
Fianna Fáil has already committed to the review.
Wage rates in the catering industry and other sectors are set by joint labour committees made up of union and employer representatives. Once set the rates are legally binding under employment regulation orders and registered employment agreements.
There are 13 joint labour committees in catering, contract cleaning, wholesale bottling, agriculture, hairdressing, hotels, law clerks, milling, retail and security.
There are also 68 registered employment agreements covering areas such as construction and electrical contracting. Rates include €9.56 per hour for a fully trained waitress or barman based on a 38-hour week, €9.50 per hour for a contract cleaner, and €7.93 per hour for a hairdresser plus commission. A retail sales person will earn the minimum wage for up to four years, increasing to €9.52 in year six.
A qualified electrician will earn €20.74 per hour in the first year after qualifying. The rate of pay for construction industry craftsmen, including carpenters, bricklayers and plumbers, was reduced under the industry’s most recent agreement last week to €17.21 per hour.
A lot of the agreements, including Sunday payment arrangements and requirements to change to catering wage rates if a business “put in a chair and a table for someone to take a cup of coffee”, simply were not “adapted to the type of business environment that we are now in”, he said.
“A lot of these are throwbacks to a former time and they have to be adapted so there aren’t unnecessary obstacles to people doing business,” he said.
Mr Bruton also outlined proposals for a €100 million fund to help small business start-ups.He said banks had “forgotten how to lend to small businesses”.
