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Minimum Wage left untouched

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  • 11-12-2009 8:08pm
    #1
    lynner83
    Registered Users Posts: 28 ✭


    Is anyone else surprised that the minimum wage was left untouched in the budget with cuts in the public sector, social welfare etc. Brian Lenihan was talking about competitiveness in his speech, surely he should have cut the minimum wage by at least 5%.


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    #2
    seclachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭seclachi


    Would have been unpopular in general, and our dear government doesn't want to make any cuts that can`t be covered over by playing one side against the other (employed vs unemployed, public vs private etc etc).


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    #3
    lynner83
    Registered Users Posts: 28 ✭lynner83


    very good point but surely they cant honestly think that they will be re-elected. or may be it will come soon and they dont want to play all their cards at once.


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    #4
    holdfast
    Registered Users Posts: 1,151 ✭✭✭holdfast


    IBEC and its little brother ISME are calling for it. They got their way on public service. Guess it cant be too much longer, they put a levy on them last year though. Next year they will be brought into the TAX system too. Looks like it will mean more wage cuts in private sector groan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.


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    #5
    erictheviking
    Closed Accounts Posts: 102 ✭✭erictheviking


    lynner83 wrote: »
    Is anyone else surprised that the minimum wage was left untouched in the budget with cuts in the public sector, social welfare etc. Brian Lenihan was talking about competitiveness in his speech, surely he should have cut the minimum wage by at least 5%.
    What is it with people on here. Don't they live in the real world?
    Cut the wages of the poorest workers? I would say a lot of them had hours reduced so have already got a pay cut. If employers are too tight to pay the minimum wage why don't they get off their butts and do the work themselves....oh wait! They take on people for minimum wage because they are usually the jobs they don't want to do themselves.


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    #6
    ardmacha
    Registered Users Posts: 7,476 ✭✭✭ardmacha


    The minimum wage must be adjusted as other wages have been, especially as there is huge unemployment.


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    #7
    erictheviking
    Closed Accounts Posts: 102 ✭✭erictheviking


    ardmacha wrote: »
    The minimum wage must be adjusted as other wages have been, especially as there is huge unemployment.
    If you lower the minimum wage people would be better off on the dole.


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    #8
    jhegarty
    Registered Users Posts: 6,440 ✭✭✭jhegarty


    erictheviking wrote: »
    If you lower the minimum wage people would be better off on the dole.

    +1

    You want keep as much space as possible between the dole and working.


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    #9
    dvpower
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,183 ✭✭✭dvpower


    Adjusting the minimum wage isn't a budgetary measure.


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    #10
    dvpower
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,183 ✭✭✭dvpower


    erictheviking wrote: »
    If you lower the minimum wage people would be better off on the dole.

    Minimum wage is €8.65 an hour. For a 40 hour week that's €346.
    That's a far cry from the dole which has just been reduced.


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    #11
    Flamed Diving
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,609 ✭✭✭Flamed Diving


    How many foreign companies with investment interest in Ireland actually pay it?


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    #12
    Stark
    Registered Users Posts: 20,995 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    holdfast wrote: »
    IBEC and its little brother ISME are calling for it. They got their way on public service. Guess it cant be too much longer, they put a levy on them last year though. Next year they will be brought into the TAX system too. Looks like it will mean more wage cuts in private sector groan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

    They're already in the tax net. April's emergency budget reduced the threshold for paying the income levy to about €15k p.a. Minimum wage is about €18 p.a. That means people on minimum wage pay 2% tax now.
    dvpower wrote:
    Minimum wage is €8.65 an hour. For a 40 hour week that's €346.
    That's a far cry from the dole which has just been reduced.

    Standard working week is 39 hours. So that's €337 a week. Take off 2% for income levy and you're left with €330 a week.

    When you factor in medical card, rent allowance and fuel allowance, you're not much better off than if you were on the dole.


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    #13
    Arnold Layne
    Registered Users Posts: 976 ✭✭✭Arnold Layne


    lynner83 wrote: »
    Is anyone else surprised that the minimum wage was left untouched in the budget with cuts in the public sector, social welfare etc. Brian Lenihan was talking about competitiveness in his speech, surely he should have cut the minimum wage by at least 5%.

    Ireland's competitiveness is not based on the minimum wage but is more to do with the high energy costs and insurance, which he has increased to suit the Greens.

    As Flamed Diving has alluded to, no multinational pays the minimum wage; they pay more along with Helath Insurance and other benefits. The only companies that pay minimum wage in this country are Irish owned. Don't we really take care of each other? If minimum wage was reduced these are the ones that would be exploiting the situation


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    #14
    seclachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭seclachi


    Arnold Layne wrote: »
    Ireland's competitiveness is not based on the minimum wage but is more to do with the high energy costs and insurance, which he has increased to suit the Greens.

    As Flamed Diving has alluded to, no multinational pays the minimum wage; they pay more along with Helath Insurance and other benefits. The only companies that pay minimum wage in this country are Irish owned. Don't we really take care of each other? If minimum wage was reduced these are the ones that would be exploiting the situation

    Its not as simple as that, not every multinational pays 50k with benefits. What about Mc Donalds, Tescos, B&Q. Even a pharmacutical plant will have minimum wage workers cleaning or working in the canteen etc. It has a big effect on competitiveness, its the baseline wage and every service that needs a person to handle it will have a base cost. I dont have figures or anything, but I reckon when you go for fast food a sizeable chunk of the cost is for the people serving the food and not the food itself.


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    #15
    captainscarlet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 59 ✭✭captainscarlet


    dvpower wrote: »
    Minimum wage is €8.65 an hour. For a 40 hour week that's €346.
    That's a far cry from the dole which has just been reduced.

    Thank god he cut social welfare. I know people who never worked a day in their life after school and were getting 200e plus a week for doing f**k all.

    I actually feel better and more valued working now.


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    #16
    greendom
    Registered Users Posts: 16,382 ✭✭✭✭greendom


    At least the poverty trap is lessened somewhat by leaving the minimum wage untouched.


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    #17
    seclachi
    Closed Accounts Posts: 510 ✭✭✭seclachi


    greendom wrote: »
    At least the poverty trap is lessened somewhat by leaving the minimum wage untouched.

    That maybe a false belief though, a high minimum wage just pushes up the cost of everything else, so people stay just as poor. I think its fair to say that the minimum wage never helped push living standards as whole up. (it does have an important role in preventing exploitation in my books though.)


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