TALKS at the Labour Court aimed at establishing a regulating mechanism for wages in Dublin city's catering industry were adjourned this week. The issue under discussion was the legal minimum wage which could be paid to employees in the catering industry.
A Catering Joint Labour Committee (JLC) has set out legal minimum pay rates for workers in the catering trade, which has been binding throughout the State, "except in the Borough of Dublin and the Borough of Dun Laoghaire", since 1978. Working conditions in Dublin's restaurants were then regarded as sufficiently organised and in no need of further statutory regulation. Since that time there has been a "catering boom" in Dublin, according to Mr Norman Croke, of SIPTU.
If a JLC were to be introduced to cover the Dublin metropolitan area, the wages and conditions of over 30,000 workers would be affected.
Mr Croke described the rates of pay being proposed by employers as "poverty wages". He rejects the arguments of the SFA and IBEC, asking if the wage rates would put Dublin businesses out of operation `How can the other 25 counties do it'?"
Both Mr Gareth Coyne, of IBEC, and Mr Brendan Butler, of the Small Firms Association, which are represented at the talks, have warned that the introduction of a legally binding minimum wage in Dublin could threaten jobs and the viability of many catering operators in the city if that wage were to be too high.
The wage rates being put forward would be "broadly similar" to those set out for the rest of the State.
Mr Coyne said: "... with the low margins for the vast majority of businesses, any significant increase in costs could put jobs in jeopardy."
According to Mr Butler, competition between restaurants and fast food outlets in Dublin was fiercer and put caterers under far greater pressure. "Dublin has an enormous number of outlets. Overheads are higher and prices tend to be lower," he added.
The SFA fears non legitimate operators would escape regulations and those staying within the agreement would suffer financially.
The problem of cowboy operators" operating outside the net needed to be tackled, according to Mr Coyne.
"There would have to be thousands of new inspectors" appointed if the JLC was serious about coping with the increased workload, he added.
Mr Butler was "concerned that the wrong issue is being addressed" in seeking to introduce minimum pay for Dublin's restaurant workers.
"It is not a high paying industry anyway . . . If rates are set too high there will clearly be implications for the tourist industry," he said.
Talks resume at the Labour Court next month.
