Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 19:

In page 20, between lines 28 and 29, to insert the following:

"(f) the impact on working poverty and adequate income.".

Section 12 sets out the various measures the joint labour committee must take into account when submitting proposals for an order to the Labour Court. It must take into account the desirability of maintaining competitiveness in the sector in question, the levels of employment and unemployment, the general level of wages in competing enterprises in other member states and the level of the national minimum wage. All of these factors tend to exert downward pressure on the level of remuneration it will recommend. I propose an amendment to balance the situation in order that a JLC would be compelled to take into account the impact on working poverty and adequate income.

The Minister will be aware that we are suffering from 55 consecutive months of falling domestic demand. The people in question are at the lower end of the wage scale and compelled to spend every penny they get just to survive from week to week. They could use more money, but that is the way it is. The more we depress their spending power the more money we take out of the economy, which has a consequent effect on everyone throughout the economy. The purpose of the amendment is to balance some of the other provisions made.

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