Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When a trade union tries to organise people in restaurants, they get fired. JLCs were set up to protect certain sectors in which trade union density will always be low. My colleague, Senator O'Mahony, stated that the current system has served Ireland well. Whom in Ireland has it served well? Has it benefited hotel workers or people working in retail who must wait to see whether they will get hours of work the following week?I have a question that I invite the Minister of State to answer. How does a hotel worker get a pay rise? It is not something the Minister of State and I have to worry about because we have had our pay rises. Mind you, Sinn Féin Members have not taken them. How does a hotel worker, retail worker or agricultural worker get a pay rise? Does it just not matter to the Minister of State?

I live in Limerick, as does my colleague in the Chair, Senator Byrne. The Minister of State is from Clare. There is one hotel in Limerick that recognises trade unions. Some of the richest hotels in the city, which are showered with taxpayers' money every year to put on all sorts of events that the Minister of State and I have attended, fire workers who join a trade union. I have met workers from these hotels. At the top of their contracts, they are referred to as casual workers despite their having been working for the hotels for three or four years. The Government has done absolutely nothing for those workers.

The current system does not work. We know this because in all the sectors — agriculture, catering, hairdressing, hotel, retail, grocery and allied trades — there is no joint labour committee up and running. The Minister of State has no answer to that. His Government was happy to shower money on the hotels for years and cut VAT for them but they are now making record profits. This will be evident to those who try to get a hotel room in the city tonight. The workers in the hotels will be on the minimum wage, or a wage barely above that. This Bill would see them get some rights and a pathway towards a decent pay rise and better terms and conditions. It would help build a better sector in which pay rises could be dependent on service, for example. Some decent terms and conditions could be established over time. It would improve the quality of the sector itself. The Government is saying "No". It is for the bosses. The Senators in this Chamber know that. The Government should be better than that. The Government has absolutely nothing to offer the weakest and most vulnerable workers in the State.

I am disappointed in Fianna Fáil. My dad was a Fianna Fáil voter. It was a tradition. There was a time when Fianna Fáil represented working people. This Bill presented an opportunity to Fianna Fáil to come on board with this progressive agenda. It is disappointing that it has said "No".