Ms Patricia King:

I will confine my comments to the Bill we are dealing with which allows for registered employment agreements because one could say much about the Workplace Relations Bill, to which a considerable number of amendments have been tabled. There is no registered employment agreement. One of the biggest sectors in the past to have had registered employment agreements was the construction industry. The only thing that stands between a construction worker and outright exploitation is the minimum wage which, by any standard, is awful.

For somebody coming in as a trained cranesman, banksman or electrician, the only thing to which they are entitled in law is the minimum wage, which from our point of view is outrageous.

ICTU has worked hard at trying to influence the establishment to get us to a place where we will have legislation. We thought we had it in the 2012 Act, but it was challenged and we ended up back in the same place again. We then had to redouble our efforts to influence the establishment to get into this space.

Let me deal with the subcontracting issue and outline what it now means for a grade, group or category of workers. I have mentioned some of the grades and groups in the particular industry. Employers and trade unions can make a case to the Labour Court which will say X, Y and Z and what should happen under various headings such as the rate of pay, overtime, etc. That gives a set of terms and conditions for the workers involved. The regulation goes to the Minister, is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and becomes law. It does not matter whether one's name is Mickey Mouse or J. J. and company; an employer must pay what the law states. That provision is of huge value in the sector.

We have had several discussions. We are not allowed to put our heads in the sand; we must talk to employers on occasion. They have shared their view with us that they would also like to have this legislation in place because they have found that two things happen. First, the black economy thrives when there is no regulation; and, second, there is very bad behaviour in tendering for public contracts and everything else. People might say they will pay a particular rate and have priced at a particular rate, but when it comes to the crunch, we have awful problems in having the rates paid to. This legislation should make it very clear to all involved that this is now the law. It means that when one has gone through the proper process and the legislation is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and becomes law, workers should then be paid in accordance with the terms and conditions determined. By any standard, that provision has to be positive for those who work in the industry and also for employers because it provides for the creation of a level playing pitch.

The reason ICTU sought the amendment on the agency sector is agency workers are a particular category catered for, as Members will well know, by legislation approved not that long ago by the Oireachtas. Any Member who saw a programme broadcast last week by the national broadcaster on agencies supplying labour will have seen that there can be a European and global network whereby people can interact to ensure workers do not achieve the rates of pay they should and that an agency can be used as a conduit. Years ago I was here when we worked on the temporary agency Act. At the time I described the machinations involved such that the person at the end of the chain - the agency worker - got nothing more than the minimum wage. We are anxious that the committee give due consideration to nominating agency workers in the Bill in order that nobody, including main employers and subcontractors, will be in any doubt that the rate specified in a regulation order also applies to agency workers. It is my judgment and that of congress that one will have agency suppliers of labour. There are construction companies in the State which employ very few people directly and which take their labour force from labour suppliers. Some of these companies will look for loopholes ensure they will not have to comply with a regulation order but still operate within the law.

There is no suggestion that they will be illegal, but they will try to be within the law. We believe that consideration should be given to closing off a possible loophole in that in order to make this as tight as it can be because it is very positive for workers in the sectors. The other aspect, which Mr. Mulvey referred to in his contribution, is that Part 2 of the Bill allows for an employer and a trade union or trade unions to come together with the employer and have a single registered employment agreement. That is also positive, in that there are some big employers, which I will not name, both in the public and the private sector, where industrial peace is very valuable to the State, the employers and the customers. The registered employment agreement provides for the procedures both sides must go through before they take action that might be regarded as premature or unwarranted. This means that there is at least a procedure which both sides are expected and have agreed to go through, before they get into the endgame. Along with many employers, we feel that is valuable because it is an avenue where one is focused on living up to one's own part of the agreement. What good is being party to an agreement if one does not try to live up to one's own side of it? That is expected, and rightly so. Much positivity may arise from registered employment agreements and registered employment orders, but I urge the committee to consider the agency issue.