A DISPUTE has arisen between the Government and the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, over the issue of a minimum wage. The Government has accused Fianna Fail of performing a "U turn", while Mr Ahern claims there are splits in the Coalition on the issue.
On Sunday, the Taoiseach appeared to indicate his opposition to a national minimum wage. But yesterday Mr Bruton's spokesman insisted the Government is not opposed to the idea, should such a proposal he presented.
The Democratic Left leader and Minister for Social Welfare, Mr De Rossa, has said that when his party sits down after the general election to negotiate the next Programme for Government, the introduction of minimum wage standards "will be a top priority for us".
According to the Government spokesman, Mr Bruton believed the minimum wage should be discussed with the social partners in advance of drawing up proposals.
A minimum wage structure was already in place in a number of sectors where low wages traditionally pertained and the Taoiseach was favourably disposed to extending that structure, he said.
However, expressing regret that the Taoiseach had "vetoed" the minimum wage on "ideological grounds", Mr Ahern said this demonstrated that the "much vaunted unity of the Rainbow Coalition is a mere political facade".
Fianna Fail now favoured the introduction of a minimum wage and, according to the party leader, the only reason it did not accept it in the past was "out of concern for maintaining competitiveness vis a vis the UK". Mr Ahern said: "With the new British Labour government adopting a minimum wage as policy, that reason is now removed".
Challenging Labour and Democratic Left to state whether they are willing to "go on condemning workers to menial wage levels", he said he would be campaigning on the introduction of a minimum wage as a necessary and progressive social measure.
Mr De Rossa said he welcomed Fianna Fail's U turn, adding that he doubted if the Progressive Democrats leader, Ms Mary Harney, would agree to the introduction of a minimum wage. He produced a press cutting from October 1995, which reported Mr Ahern as saying that the minimum wage was not the answer.
"We have long advocated the introduction of minimum wages," Mr De Rossa said. "Indeed, last year when I made a speech making the case for a minimum wage, I was denounced by the Fianna Fail leader who said that the proposal was misguided, would lead to young people being deprived of having a job and was designed to save the Department of Social Welfare money."
Padraig Yeates, Industry and Employment Correspondent, writes: The State's largest trade union, SIPTU, has said it intends making the establishment of a legal minimum wage a central issue in the forthcoming election.
The union's national industrial officer, Mr Des Geraghty, says that shop stewards will be asked "to campaign widely and mobilise our membership to query candidates of all parties on the central issue of low pay. Everybody must share visibly in the growing wealth of the economy and not just those who have permanent membership of the golden circle."
Members were angry at the disclosures of "greedy profit taking such as emerged recently in the case of Ryanair, Irish Sugar plc and Irish Life plc, and demonstrated vividly by Ben Dunne, with his extraordinary largesse to political parties", he said. At the same time "these tycoons deny their workers fair levels of pay".
PAYE taxpayers are already subsidising low pay "to the tune of £25 million a year" through the Family Income Supplement paid to 12,000 workers, Mr Geraghty said.