Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 36
1 figure, if you like.
2
3 MR. MORRIS: What is an AQ?
4 A. The European -----
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do not let us get involved in that.
7 A. It is not a single 10 francs, wherever you work. It is
8 in that member state -- state specific. But it is the same
9 yardstick.
10
11 Q. Right.
12 A. It is voluntary. It is not statutory.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So the Council of Europe figure would vary
15 from country to country, would it?
16 A. It would -- the formula would the same.
17
18 MR. MORRIS: The percentage would be the same, but the actual
19 amount would be different.
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but the figure would be the same. The
22 pay -----
23 A. The formula would be identical. But of course, given
24 that Portugal's standard of living is much lower than
25 West Germany's, you get a different actual figure in
26 different states.
27
28 It is a move designed to recognise decency in terms of
29 earnings, acceptability in terms of standard of living. It
30 is a unifying feature of Europe, if you like, in the
31 economy. If you translate it to Britain, you come out at
32 £221.50 on an average -- this is New Earnings Survey,
33 Government figures -- average nearly 38 hour week. That is
34 the average full-time week on which this figure is based.
35
36 MR. MORRIS: Can I just ask you, you have said in 1984 there
37 were some 7 million on low wages. Would there be an
38 equivalent figure for now, or would it be roughly the same,
39 or what?
40 A. No. The proportion has risen and, therefore, the
41 number has risen in Britain. As the commentators have
42 said -----
43
44 Q. Would you hazard a figure?
45 A. 9 million is the -- 9.8 million is the current
46 estimate.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What is that, the United Kingdom?
49 A. In the UK, of the numbers earning below the Council of
50 Europe decency threshold. It is similar to the TUC model,
51 in the end. It is one which is not statutory enforceable,
52 but is thrown into the public policy arena by many
53 commentators, unions, in the political arena, as a
54 desirable minimum floor of earnings in the waged market.
55
56 Now, of course, it is above the Wages Council threshold,
57 the 26 wages councils abolished in August 1983 -- sorry,
58 1993 -- but they set a statutory floor in Britain for one
59 tenth of the workforce, including catering. Approximately
60 2.3 million out of 24 million workers in Britain were
