Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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65. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for an update on his plans to transpose the EU directive on adequate minimum wages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17054/24]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Will the Minister of State provide an update on the plans to transpose the EU minimum wages directive by the end of the year?

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The directive on adequate minimum wages in the EU was published on 19 October 2022 and must be transposed by 15 November 2024. The directive aims to ensure that workers across the EU are protected by adequate minimum wages, allowing for a decent living wherever they work.

The directive includes three sets of measures. One of its goals is to increase the number of workers covered by collective bargaining on wage setting. This will require Ireland to develop an action plan to enhance collective bargaining coverage by the end of 2025. Ensuring that minimum wages are set at adequate levels is the second set of measures. The directive requires countries with statutory minimum wages, as in Ireland, to put in place clear and stable criteria for minimum wage setting and indicative reference values to guide the assessment of adequacy and to involve social partners in the regular and timely updates of minimum wages. Regarding the third set of measures, the directive provides for improved enforcement and monitoring of the minimum wage protection established in each country. The directive introduces reporting by member states of their minimum wage protection data to the European Commission.

The directive will be transposed into Irish law. Last year, our Department participated in the expert group on the directive's transposition that was established by the European Commission. Our Department has received legal advice on the minimum wage elements of the directive and work is under way to ensure transposition by the deadline of November 2024. The legal advice is that Ireland’s current minimum wage-setting framework, namely, the Low Pay Commission, is largely already in compliance with the provisions of the directive.

A technical group has been established with departmental officials and the social partners to examine what is required to implement the collective bargaining elements set out in Article 4 of the directive. My Department has requested legal advice as to whether any legislative changes are required to transpose this article into domestic legislation by the transposition deadline at the end of the year.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for her response and I noted the engagement earlier with another Deputy on this matter. I spoke about the importance of the national minimum wage, moves to a living wage and setting a higher floor of minimum wage adequacy below which no decent society should allow workers to fall. More important still is the transposition of the collective bargaining element of the EU minimum wages directive. We need enhanced collective bargaining coverage in this country. Fairness for workers can only be achieved by extending that coverage. Central to that is the right to organise. This means workers having access to their trade union officials and all the supports that trade unions provide to workers individually and collectively.

It was mentioned that an examination of enhancing the coverage of joint labour committees and wage-setting mechanisms more generally was under way. That is part of the solution, but it is not the panacea. The JLC system does not overpromise and does not overstate its work or utility. It is limited in its coverage and in what it can do. In the interests of working people, I want the Minister of State to commit to a maximalist approach to the directive’s transposition.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Let me be clear that Ireland is fully supportive of the principles of this directive. It will increase the number of workers covered by collective bargaining, and that is something with which we agree. It is important to remember that, even without this directive, Ireland has one of the highest minimum wage rates in the EU. Article 4 of the directive is specific to collective bargaining in terms of workers and wages. Ireland is a leader on that front, given the Low Pay Commission and the work it does in informing us on national minimum wage rates and the living wage. Ireland has public sector pay agreements, which are achieved through negotiation. The directive requires us to set out an action plan for increasing collective bargaining. That is something we will do.

There are two deadlines, the first of which is the transposition deadline of November 2024 and the second of which is the action plan deadline of the end of 2025. These are deadlines that we will meet.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I advise the Minister of State not to rely disproportionately on the efficacy and utility of the JLC system, good and all as it is, for enabling Ireland to reach its obligations under the minimum wages directive, specifically Article 4. The system is important, and I am proud of the role I played in re-establishing its mechanisms, which are important for low-paid workers, but there are restrictions inherent in the joint labour committee system and the areas it is permitted to cover by law are limited.

If we are interested in ensuring that workers get a greater share of the wealth they produce, a maximalist approach to the transposition of this directive is important. To the best of my knowledge, the density of trade unions in this country is at an all-time low. The market economies that perform best are those that recognise and allow access to trade unions and put collective bargaining and trade union membership and activism at the heart of their economic models. I ask the Minister of State to promote this idea actively.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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We should not lose sight of the fact that the overall ambition of the directive relates to the national minimum wage. Ireland has the sixth highest national minimum wage of the 22 EU member states that have national minimum wages. The directive does not attempt to set the minimum wage. Rather, it is about consultation when setting new minimum wages. That is something Ireland is a leader on already and something on which we are continually working.

Regarding trade unions and activity within them, it is up to individual workers to decide how they want to conduct their negotiations. We cannot lose sight of that. We want to increase access to collective bargaining, but people should also have their own choice about how to negotiate.