§ 3.31 p.m.
§ Baroness SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they propose to take following the Report of the National Economic Development Office showing that 15.7 per cent. of the 2 million workers in retailing are not paid the minimum entitlement and that among sales assistants the figure is 24 per cent.
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, urgent attention is being given to this Report. Underpayment of workers in the retail trade is a matter of considerable concern to the Government and the figures quoted in the Report are disturbing. Various ways of improving the enforcement of minimum wages are under active consideration.
§ Baroness SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, I thank my noble friend very much for that encouraging reply. Is he aware that the great majority of the half-million workers who are illegally denied the minimum wage which has been fixed by the Wages Council are women, and therefore this is a gross exploitation of women's labour?
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, I should not like too much importance to be attached to the figures which are quoted by the noble Baroness in her Question. These figures were produced by the former Commission of Industrial Relations. There was no inspection of wages records: the figures were based upon questionnaires. The questionnaires were not checked by experienced wage inspectors. The figures related to only one week, and they covered only 13,700 employees, which was only 1 per cent. of the total. Much better information is available. For example, in 1973 the Wages Inspectorate inspected the wage records of 90,000 employees in retail distribution. They found that 11 per cent. were underpaid. Since the inspectors tend 780 to concentrate their attention on the firms which do not have negotiated rates above the legal minimum, there is strong evidence that the true figure is something well under 10 per cent. But, so far as the Government are concerned, 10 per cent. is far too much, and two kinds of action are being taken: first, experiments are being made with different methods of selecting the establishments for inspection. We believe this will considerably reduce the incidence of underpayment. Secondly, consideration is being given to publicity for the purpose of encouraging those workers who are underpaid, and have legitimate complaints, to find their way to the Inspectorate.
§ Baroness SUMMERSKILLMy Lords, may I ask my noble friend whether it is a fact that the maximum penalty for this illegal action is only £20, and that that penalty was fixed in 1909 and has not been changed?
§ Lord JACQUESMy Lords, that is so. That penalty is one of the penalties which will be revised in the Protection of Employment Bill later in this Parliament.
§ Lord LEE of NEWTONMy Lords, would the noble Lord agree that, while we are relying exclusively on a form of collective bargaining which depends entirely upon the industrial power of those who bargain, those without any industrial power will be low-paid workers?