David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee. I welcome the Minister of State to the committee. It is positive that we are shining a spotlight on this issue. It is fair to say many of us have been raising these issues for many years. In fact we had Mandate, Unite, SIPTU and other trade unions appear before the committee on these issues on several occasions in recent years. As the Minister of State pointed out, the committee published a report on low pay, decent work, and a living wage. Some of the issues he raised were addressed in that report even though, primarily, it focused on low pay. The last time the trade unions appeared before the committee - the employers appeared before the committee also - they focused on the difficulties that the if-and-when or low-hour contracts pose for workers. They also had people who were on low-hour contracts themselves. The Minister of State may recall it was on the back of one of the large multiple retailers who was in a dispute with the trade union, Mandate. It mainly involved workers who work for that company and there were presentations in the AV room.

Workers across different sectors in retail and hospitality gave examples of how it affects them. Not knowing what their income would be affects them in terms of not having security of pay and not being able to plan to pay bills. Many would know what their income would be because they could have been on low-hour contracts for ten, 15 or 20 years and still have a ten-hour or 15 hour contract per week, even though for long periods they were getting 20, 30 hours or, perhaps, longer. However, there is a difficulty for others in terms of not knowing what work they have. Obviously, there are difficulties in not knowing the social welfare benefits, such as family income support, they might get. While I am in favour of flexibility in the workforce, and flexible contracts suit some workers, some employers exploit that flexibility and the nature of flexible work. That exploitation, where it happen, is what we need to deal with, not the flexible nature of work which we all support. That is our role as legislators.

I remind the Minister of State of the ICTU fair hours proposals. It has called on us, as legislators, to introduce fair hours legislation. Given that Deputy Peadar Tóibín has published a Bill dealing with many of these issues, a good deal of work has been done. With respect, what has been missing for many years has been the political will to deal with it. I give credit to the Minister of State that we are focusing on the issue now but this has been an issue for some time.

The Minister of State asked for solutions. I can give a number of examples of where we want to see a focus. As part of the consultation process, we made a submission so much of this has been addressed. The trade unions have called for banded hours where certainty is given to workers. For example, one might start off on a ten-hour or 15 hour contract. If, over a period of six or 12 months one is getting regular hours over and above that contract, after a period one moves up the bands and that certainty is then given to workers. This is something that is done in other European Union countries and it seems to be a practical solution. In fact, some of the retailers provide banded hours. It is a system that is in operation, and some do it voluntarily, but we need to make it mandatory.

We want to see collective bargaining strengthened and to have mandatory trade union recognition. This issue has been discussed many times in the Dáil and Seanad with the Minister of State. We want robust and devictimisation legislation put in place to protect workers.

I have talked to people who are on low-hour contracts. One of the problems they raise is how they are being exploited. The Mandate trade union carried out a survey of workers to find out the experiences and what impact these contracts had on them. It concluded that workers were at the mercy of the employer. If a worker raised questions about the terms and conditions of employment, it could have an impact on the amount of hours the person got. That cannot continue to be the situation for workers. Workers must be able to express concerns and have their rights vindicated. They should not have to worry that if they raise these issues then perhaps they might not get the hours that other workers get, but this has been an issue.

We are calling for employers to provide employees with a written statement of normal working hours on the first day of employment. We want to see the introduction of fair employment legislation, making banded-hour contracts mandatory and increasing the notice period for rosters to at least one week. We want to increase the period of compensated time in order that employees are compensated for half of unworked time and not a quarter or 15 hours, whichever is the lesser, as is currently the case. We also want to provide the right for employees to an overtime premium for hours worked in excess of the normal hours in the employment contract. Moreover, we want a right to request full-time work and a corresponding obligation on employers to consider this request.

The committee members will remember the European directive that was brought in. We all supported it because we needed more part-time workers. These were people who wanted to go back into the workforce during the Celtic tiger years. We needed more people in work at the time and it was attractive to entice more people to work part-time. The directive was aimed at this end and facilitated people who wished to reduce their hours and work part-time. The opposite is now the case. Many people who are working part-time and on low-hour contracts want to work more hours but they are not always given the opportunity to do so. Often companies employ people on short-hour contracts rather than giving them the opportunity to work full-time.

There are many more points but I know other people want to come in. Deputy Tóibín will pick up on some of the issues I have not raised. My point is that practical realistic deliverable solutions are available. Whatever happens in the course of the coming weeks, I imagine some of these issues will form part of the campaign we are all going to be involved in. The committee members published the report to try to figure out a blueprint to deal with these issues, irrespective of who is in government. Exploitation of workers is wrong. The abuse of flexible contracts is wrong. We can bring in legislation to address this. I hope that will be a priority for the next Government. We have made a submission. Our views have been articulated to the Minister of State in this committee as well as in the submission. I thank the Minister of State for giving us the opportunity to have this discussion today.