MANY workers are unaware of minimum wage rages for their industry, the Minister of State for Labour Affairs said yesterday. Ms Eithne Fitzgerald was introducing an information campaign to address the situation.
Last year 900 people were assisted by the Department of Enterprise and Employment in obtaining arrears totalling £350,000 due to them under the law, an average of £390 per employee.
Of the 900, 345 were employed in grocery shops, 300 in women's clothing (manufacturing), and between 50 and 100 cases were in restaurants, hotels and law firms.
While most employers know of minimum pay rates, the level of awareness among employees is about 50 per cent. In one sector it was as low as 20 per cent, according to a Department survey.
The general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mr Peter Cassells, said the names of law breakers should be published.
Inaugurating the campaign, Ms. Fitzgerald said she was determined that the Department would meet its responsibility to inform workers. The campaign is designed to get information across and to ensure that rights are upheld.
It will use the Aertel teletext system, television advertising, a freephone information line (1800 275 375), posters and leaflets.
Mr Cassells called on the Department to take the "logical step" and lift the secrecy which protected law breakers.
"Publication of the list of offenders would be an effective deterrent," he said.
It was regrettable, he added, that there were many thousands of workers who did not have the protection of minimum pay rates and for whom this information campaign was irrelevant.
Congress was convinced that a minimum rate below which no worker could be paid would be the most effective means of tackling the scandal of poverty wages.
"It is not acceptable that in a booming economy people are still living in poverty while working hard. As well as benefiting low paid workers, minimum rates of pay would level the playing pitch by stopping a minority of businesses undercutting fair minded competitors," he said.