Slave Wages...

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Gogogo

A curious story and begs the question where else is this kind of pay rate & working conditions is being conducted.

The Irish minimum wage is apparently 7 Euros an hour, the UK minimum wage is £4.85 an hour. The girl concened was working 12 hours 7 days a week for the pittance of 75 per hour. To say the least it disgraceful; the job agency concened and the shipping company itself employed someone, and it matters not who at this dreadful wage. We know of course that job agencies have a nice mark up in its contract with the company and probably may have enjoyed an income up to two or three times or even more the wage of the girl concerned.

It is good that the Irisjh trade union concerned took the issue up and reached a deal for the girl concerned. If the agency and the Irish Ferries had paid the minimum wage in the first place then they would not have had to be embarrasssed.


SIPTU

Agencies are indeed often on a very good mark up.

Hospitals in my area pay between £50-100 an hour for a contract grade C nurse, the nurse generally gets paid around £30-55 an hour. The situation is very similar in the electronics industry.

My whole disagreement with this case is the level of compensation, the woman will now be a millionaire in her country, whilst other underpaid workers will be fighting their silent cause without the help of the press.

Originally Posted by Escapee

So how many times have we heard about someone taking a company to court for being underpaid by a few hundred, (or whatever they owed) and getting paid £17K?

The only reason this one single case of someone being ripped off came to light, was the press chose to highlight it. Others are in similar situations everyday where they are being treated unfairly by their employer, but who cares about them.

Perhaps they are not getting paid as low as this woman, but does that really matter, an injustice is an injustice and people should be compensated accordingly. Instead this case has compensated one woman extortionatly and many others can go and take a running jump.

It makes no difference to me where this woman comes from or what skin colour she has, I would have exactly the same view if she was a local. One person should not benefit that much whilst others are ignored, its as much a crime as the underpayment.

I'm finding it hard to see your logic here.You are saying no one deserves to be given this compensation at all local or not now?Whether they recieved such low wages or not?

Well if firms behaving this way don't get stung every now and then they would never modify their behaviour would they?Seems it's a damned good way to not only put them under the spotlight but to get them to pay too.I suspect that this is the tip of the iceberg and now they will have to tread very carefully in future because the unions will be keeping a close eye on them...I do not begrudge this woman one single pound/euro of her pay out...Even if she only worked for three days, if it gets fair treatment for all in the future.

Originally Posted by Escapee

Agencies are indeed often on a very good mark up.

Hospitals in my area pay between £50-100 an hour for a contract grade C nurse, the nurse generally gets paid around £30-55 an hour. The situation is very similar in the electronics industry.

My whole disagreement with this case is the level of compensation, the woman will now be a millionaire in her country, whilst other underpaid workers will be fighting their silent cause without the help of the press.

Well that's the fault of the job agency and Irish Ferries, they should have paid the minimum wage in the first place. Frankly, I believe she earned it and it's up to her how she spends the money, it's her life. By the way it was the trade union concerned that helped the girl, the press were on the sidelines.

[Escapee]

Originally Posted by Incognitas

I'm finding it hard to see your logic here.You are saying no one deserves to be given this compensation at all local or not now?Whether they recieved such low wages or not?

Well if firms behaving this way don't get stung every now and then they would never modify their behaviour would they?Seems it's a damned good way to not only put them under the spotlight but to get them to pay too.I suspect that this is the tip of the iceberg and now they will have to tread very carefully in future because the unions will be keeping a close eye on them...I do not begrudge this woman one single pound/euro of her pay out...Even if she only worked for three days, if it gets fair treatment for all in the future.

No, I dont think any individual should get these levels of compensation. Perhaps in these sort of cases, it would be better to compensate the employee for the amount they were underpaid, with the rest going into a fund for others who are not compensated for such things.

This level of compensation is unbelievable when compared to official government redundancy terms in this country. Someone who is employed by a company for many years would not get anywhere approaching the figure this woman received.

This is not promoting a fair and level playing field for others who are being treated unfairly.