Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Tipperary Town Main Street Alamy Stock Photo

Minimum wage increase 'unwise' and 'unsustainable' for SMEs

ISME retail members estimate that the increase – the largest jump since 2012 – will add between 1% and 2.5% to grocery bills.

THE PROPOSED INCREASE to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) will be ‘financially unsustainable’ for small and medium businesses, the Taoiseach has been warned.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) today wrote to Leo Varadkar arguing that the 12.4% increase due next year will only add to the strain other government initiatives have put on businesses.

Its retail members estimate that the proposed increase – the largest jump since 2012 – will add between 1% and 2.5% to grocery bills, depending on the size of the store.

If agreed by the government in the budget, the recommendation by the Low Pay Commission will mean someone on the minimum wage who works a 39 hour week would earn an additional €54.60 per week from January 2024.

Chairperson Marc O’Dwyer told the Taoiseach that while “very few” ISME members pay staff at the minimum wage, the rate serves as an “important benchmark” and relativity for most incomes up to approximately €30,000 per annum. 

He said that it comes on top of a number of other costly payroll measures, such as the new St Brigid’s Day public holiday, a rising number of Statutory Sick Pay days, and Domestic Violence Leave.

While these changes are “laudable and welcome”, O’Dwyer said they are increasingly “unaffordable” for a lot of companies.

“The current earnings in small business average €720.33 per week, or €37,457 per annum, and we genuinely feel the hard work done by the Low Pay Commission lacks context around the fact that the majority of Irish workers are employed by SMEs, with earnings that are reflective of this, and not the exceptional premiums earned in FDI businesses and the public service,” he said.

“Many of our affiliated groups, in areas such as childcare, nursing homes and animal collection, operate in sectors where the overseeing department regulates the pricing in the sector, or caps commercial charges within it. Whilst trying to negotiate rate increases already in a difficult climate, with their parent department, these services will enjoy no scope to negotiate payment of the NMW.”

There have been suggestions that businesses may be supported by government in delivering the increased minimum wage in January.

O’Dwyer labelled the suggestion “unwise”.

“If proposed increases in the NMW are so large that businesses require state support, they clearly should not go ahead,” he said.

“In our view, the social wage and social welfare supports should be used to bridge identified gaps, not an increase in the NMW.

“Research the government has already seen suggests that where businesses cannot afford to pay NMW increases, they simply reduce employee hours worked, negating the justification for the increase in the first place.”

ISME represents over 10,000 small and medium enterprises in Ireland, either directly or through thirty-two affiliated associations and trade bodies. 

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
56 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Steve T
    Favourite Steve T
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 7:51 PM

    Throw away the key!!

    183
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Quentin Moriarty
    Favourite Quentin Moriarty
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 10:53 PM

    @Steve T: No need , 3 years may as well be 50 for an 81 year old .

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarah Connor
    Favourite Sarah Connor
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:56 PM

    Infuriating arguments. “Legally Blind” does not mean can’t see, it means vision impaired (in fairness, to a significant measure, but usually can still see), and in the current photos he does not look “frail” at all. Even if he was a frail blind man, why exactly would that mean he shouldn’t serve time?

    87
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute O Swetenham
    Favourite O Swetenham
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:01 PM

    So three years then.

    76
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Shane Corry
    Favourite Shane Corry
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:09 PM

    @O Swetenham: Shocking that it can end up as low as 3 years. 10 years is too low as well but at least there would be a good chance he would then die in prison so there’d be little chance of him getting out again.

    77
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James O'Brien
    Favourite James O'Brien
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:59 PM

    3 years. Thought Ireland was bad.

    56
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute tottkingham
    Favourite tottkingham
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 7:47 PM

    Hey,Hey,Hey!!!

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Ryan
    Favourite Joe Ryan
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 9:01 PM

    Bill Crosby, an icon. How many of today’s celebrities will be exposed for who they really are in the future. Be careful who you idolize, if your into that sort of thing.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute KingCrisp
    Favourite KingCrisp
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:02 PM

    Great to see a sadistic vile sexual predator jailed. All they have to do now is to jail Trump and his group of sexual predators that he calls fine people :)

    94
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jimmy jones
    Favourite Jimmy jones
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 7:46 PM

    Hey hey hey , all the way to rest of his life in prison.

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jaune Fujisawa
    Favourite Jaune Fujisawa
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 9:19 PM

    Don’t really understand this system. 3 years or 10 years. Which is correct. Both of course not enough but that’s another issue

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ger
    Favourite Ger
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 10:05 PM

    @Jaune Fujisawa: I think it’s a minimum of 3 years and the rest will depend on his behaviour and attitude towards rehabilitation in prison. For example he claims he’s not guilty and shows no remorse so is likely to refuse treatment. If that remains the case it’s likely to be more than 3 years.

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Charlie
    Favourite Charlie
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:03 PM

    A bipen and a bobben all the way to hell

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brendan Oconnor
    Favourite Brendan Oconnor
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:33 PM

    The thing is that he was always criticising black kids..about how they behave.. dressed . ECT. .. In other words an Uncle Tom . I’m glad he got his cumupance. . Hey Hey Hey .

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Liam O Reilly
    Favourite Liam O Reilly
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 9:27 PM

    @Brendan Oconnor: Yeah because that’s the big point here, he’s an Uncle Tom.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dougal67
    Favourite Dougal67
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 9:18 PM

    Knew he wasn’t a nice man years ago, as his old friend Robert culp got him a job starring in an old tv show I Spy, when not many black actors got work, culp put his kneck on the line for him, years later when Cosby was a huge star culp asked him for a favor and a role, Cosby replied he was too busy! Knew he was a you know what then, but this is beyond belief, “USA TVs daddy”??? Should throw away the key his age stardom is irrelevant!!

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kenneth Hayden
    Favourite Kenneth Hayden
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 8:10 PM

    * claps hands *

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lily Martin
    Favourite Lily Martin
    Report
    Sep 26th 2018, 1:24 AM

    The fact that he is now old, “legally blind” and frail should not enter into it. He committed a heinous crime and that should be the only consideration.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Maher
    Favourite Mary Maher
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 11:47 PM

    I am a softie, would usually feel distressed at the prospect of an elderly person, partially blind, being sent to prison. But not in this case. Bill Cosby was a very famous and powerful person. He could have had hundreds of girls very willing to sleep with him. Instead, he chose to drug and rape those vulnerable girls who came to him for help, hope and encouragement in their career. There is something sick in his psyche.
    So now, he gets to know how it feels to be vulnerable. Learning it, too late in his life. And, by the way, very few are taken in by his feeble, old blind man, fumbling his way about behaviour.. He was always a good actor.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eammon Collins
    Favourite Eammon Collins
    Report
    Sep 26th 2018, 2:53 AM

    Dont drop the soap in the shower Bill or it’ll be Zip zop wop bobbity bop for you :-)

    Take some Quaaludes,ease the pain man ;-)

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pat Mooney
    Favourite Pat Mooney
    Report
    Sep 26th 2018, 1:10 AM

    The clergy commited worse crimes
    And nothing happened to them
    Just transferred to other places
    To continue at it

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Wallace
    Favourite Paul Wallace
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 9:24 PM

    What a mad world, who’d have thought crosby was that sort…

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pat Mooney
    Favourite Pat Mooney
    Report
    Sep 26th 2018, 1:12 AM

    Just stating I’m not condoning
    What Cosby done

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Frankie Mangan
    Favourite Frankie Mangan
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 11:04 PM

    Billy baby these sadists wont bother drugging you before sex where you’re going.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dougal67
    Favourite Dougal67
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 11:48 PM

    @Frankie Mangan: lol

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Wallace
    Favourite Paul Wallace
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 9:22 PM

    What a mad world, who’d have thought crosby was a paedo

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ger
    Favourite Ger
    Report
    Sep 25th 2018, 10:06 PM

    @Paul Wallace: Cosby* isn’t. His victim was an adult.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard W. Kendall
    Favourite Richard W. Kendall
    Report
    Sep 26th 2018, 5:05 PM

    Hey, hey, hey, “Grip it & Rip it ( his arse ), here comes a “Fat Albert” right up the Hershey Highway!

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      News in 60 seconds