#title 37% illegally underpaid
#author Workers Solidarity Movement
#SORTtopics workplace struggles, Ireland, Workers Solidarity
#date 1994
#source Retrieved on 18<sup>th</sup> November 2021 from [[http://struggle.ws/ws94/pay43.html][struggle.ws]]
#lang en
#pubdate 2021-11-18T22:22:04
#notes Published in <em>Workers Solidarity</em> No. 43 — Autumn 1994.



WAGES COUNCILS, which used to set minimum wages in badly paid industries like catering, in Northern Ireland & Britain are no more. As reported in the last edition of Workers Solidarity they were abolished by the Tories on February 7<sup>th</sup>.

Latest figures from the Low Pay Network show that, just before their abolition, over 37% of the workplaces visited by wages inspectors were illegally underpaying staff. However there were only 12 prosecutions (so much for Tory huffing and puffing about “the law must be obeyed”). In another survey one in five vacancies offered in job centres were below the minimum wages set by the wage councils