Tag Archives: Minimum Wage

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I see that the ESRI has found that most minimum wage earners are not the sole earners in their households.

This would suggest that people working on the minimum wage [headline minimum wage, €9.15 per hour] can only do so as a viable option because someone else’s job supplements their income and helps to pay for rent, food and other necessary living expenses.

The minimum wage can therefore not be considered a living wage.

Sarah Grimley,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16.

A minimum wage is not a living wage (Irish Times letters page)

Yesterday: Union Pandering Surrender Monkeys

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Irish Lorries boarding the car ferry at Rosslare heading for Cherbourg, France

 

Eamon Delaney of the free market think tank Hibernia Forum, writes:

The French Government intends to press on with their plans to enforce the French minimum wage law for transit workers, even for Irish workers from July1

Ireland has the second highest minimum wage in Europe (second only to Luxembourg).

However, when calculated on the basis of a 35 hour week, the French minimum wage equates to €9.61 per hour, against Ireland’s €9.15.

Irrespective of this fact, there is no justification in law for the French (or any other member state) to impose their domestic laws on transiting workers.

This is against the spirit and letter of the Single Market, and a blatant infringement upon the rights of free movement of people, goods and services. It is also only one of a number of creeping administrative measures on the continent that are reducing free movement.

It is not merely the minimum wage itself, but the imposition of more administrative burden on transit operators to demonstrate compliance. It slows everything down, and completely defeats the purpose of the Single Market.

In the case of the French Government., it also appears to be pandering to a trade union movement that is not interested in compromise in any case….[more at link below]

French minimum wage rule will hit Irish companies and should be postponed (Eamon Delaney, Hibernia Forum)

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 Lucinda Creighton at the launch of Renua’s pre-budget submission yesterday at the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin

Um.

You may recall how yesterday Lucinda Creighton announced Renua’s proposed tax plans which include a 23% flat tax and tax rebates, on a sliding scale, for those on welfare and lower income.

Under the proposals the disposable income of those on middle and higher incomes would increase. But those on the minimum wage would earn less.

This morning, Ms Creighton spoke to Seán O’Rourke about the proposals. Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty also took part in the discussion.

Seán O’Rourke: “Is Pearse Doherty right when he says you’re going to have people on the minimum wage paying more?”

Lucinda Creighton: “No, what we are proposing, at the moment, anybody who’s on the minimum wage, is in a trap. So if they receive a €10 increase, which amounts to, a €10-a-week increase, which amounts to €520 – rather than benefiting from that pay increase, they actually end up being worse off in terms of their net take home pay, so they actually end up being down €8, rather than up €10 or part of the €10. Under our proposal, for every extra euro that that person earns, for every extra hour that they work, they will be rewarded. They will be incentivised to work harder. There are incentives for employees [sic] to pay people better and there are incentives for people to actually take and accept pay rises. At the moment, there is no incentive because you lose money because of our bizarre PRSI system, you lose money on the minimum wage if you…”

O’Rourke: “But are you going to retain the present tax exemptions so that the credits that are there for people on low income.”

Creighton: “No, we’re not retaining tax credits. What we are proposing is a direct payment, a graduated basic income for everybody who is a low earner and that’s phased out or graduated out, up to an earning income level of €70,000 and that simplifies the system. It means people can see on their payslip what they’re receiving, what they’re contributing and everybody is incentivised to work. We have to make work pay. People pay lip service to it.”

Read Renua’s submission in full here

Listen back in full here

Previously: Way To Go

Mark Stedman/Rollingnews.ie

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Are you on the minimum wage.?

Have you staff on the minimum wage?

Of this arithmetic (above), which factors in the government’s proposed increase in the minimum wage, small business owner and blogger Paul Treyvaud [probably not paying himself the minimum wage] writes:

This [above] is very alarming for so many reasons. If you are currently on the minimum wage, you now earn less with the Government’s wage increase. Your employer is now under serious pressure to find the money to cover this increase.

You are now at risk of losing your job in order to keep others. Inflation will rise to cover the cost of the wage increase which means everything becomes more expensive which means not only are you 2c less off per week, your cost have living has now increased and you are actually far worse off!

But the most alarming point is only just about to be made…

Employers RSI bill will increase per annum by €37,791,000 (38.36-28.67 = €9.69 * 75,000 * 52 weeks in a year = €37.8m)

Employees RSI goes from zero to €55,653,000 (14.27 * 75,000 * 52 weeks = €55.7m)

And USC goes up to 5,265,000 (8.54 – 7.19 * 75,000 * 52 weeks = €5.3m)

A total tax increase of circa €98.8million

We are being lied to, plan and simple. If a Government can tell you what a wage is being increased to, then why the hell can they not tell you what the change in the tax credits will be. This proposed increase in wages is in fact a decrease and a whopping €100m windfall for the Government coffers.

Anyone?

FIGHT!

The Increase in the Minimum Wage is in fact a bumper tax windfall for the Government (Paul Treyvaud)

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Taoiseach Enda Kenny on RTÉ’s Nine News tonight:

“And I think it should also be said Eileen, if I may say so that the average worker, a single worker on the minimum wage of 35,000 is going to get back €400 in the income tax returns starting in January.”

A Freudian slip from An Taoiseach.

Minimum wage is €8.65 per hour, 39 hours per week, 52 weeks per year = €17,542.

He should do more of these.

New charging structure of Irish Water to cost Exchequer €84m (RTÉ News)

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Deputy Clare Daly this morning raised the issue of employees of Hertz Car Hire who were paid an hourly rate of €2.46. The national minimum wage is €8.65 per hour.

The employees were told the figure was due to “emergency tax” and it would be rectified.

Hertz rely heavily on European workers who are more vulnerable the deputy said.

Deputy Daly described it as fraud. Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Ged Nash said it was a criminal offence.

Fuppin’ rental, in fairness.