Ms Tara Buckley:

I thank the joint committee for the invitation to appear before it to discuss this Private Members' Bill. I am joined by Mr. Tommy Smyth who is a human resources expert with great experience in assisting Retail Grocery Dairy & Allied Trades Association, RGDATA, members and other retail employers. RGDATA represents family-owned independent grocery retailers in Ireland. Our members own and operate over 3,500 shops, convenience stores and supermarkets in every community throughout the country and are significant employers providing vital local full and part-time jobs in cities, towns and villages all over Ireland. It is a fact that independent stores have a far greater employment intensity than the multiples. The independent sector has a 35% market share and employs around 90,000 employees. The multiples have 65% of the market and employ about 35,000 staff. Lidl has an average number of 20 workers per store, while Aldi employs an average number of 24 workers per store. The employment intensity of an equivalent independent grocer is between 50 and 120 employees. We represent very important employers right around Ireland. The split between full-time and part-time workers is about 50:50 within RGDATA members' shops. This reflects the cyclical nature of convenience retailing. Some days are busier than others, while some periods within the day are more active than others.

Employees in RGDATA members' shops are issued with a contract of employment stating the hours they have been employed to work. The contract includes a flexibility clause which the employee signs to accept. As a roster is posted weekly all employees know their hours a week in advance. In general, full-time staff have set weekly hours and work the same days every week. Part-time staff have a set number of hours but may work on different days each week on a rota basis. Part-timers are usually college students and parents who want to work specific hours that fit in with their college courses or parenting commitments. Our members provide vital jobs for college students who travel home to work at weekends. The students are also available to work more hours during holiday periods. This is invaluable to shop owners who need cover in the summer months or the busy Christmas period. This is a mutually beneficial system. It suits the students who want to fund their college life and also suits our members who need staff who are flexible and want to work more hours on busy weekends and in holiday periods.

Our members pride themselves in supporting their local community and employees tend to live locally, show great loyalty to their employer and stay for many years. As the employers tend to be local; therefore, they too live and spend locally. Profits are not repatriated out of their county, let alone the country.

Continuity of employment within RGDATA members' shops is also very high. According to a Jim Power Economics report for RGDATA, over 64% of employees in independent shops have worked for the same employer for more than five years. This high retention rate clearly demonstrates that both part-time employees and employers are happy with the current system. Nearly 90% of employees are paid in excess of the statutory minimum wage. Labour costs are a huge issue for independent retailers who operate under incredibly challenging economic conditions. They face increasing levels of competition from major international giants and many are based in village and town centres that have not yet seen the benefit of economic recovery.

Retailing is a sector that bore the brunt of the downturn and is making a very slow recovery. Independent retailers work with employees to find a mutually agreeable roster, but they have to include a flexibility disclaimer in a contract of employment in order that they can react to external factors that can affect their business. Examples are bad planning decisions allowing a proliferation of supermarkets on the outskirts of small towns, changes in the road network that impact on passing trade and local job losses. The loss of jobs in Dell in Kildare will lead to a loss of lunch expenditure and passing trade for several RGDATA members. Even weather events, such as a big freeze affect footfall and expenditure in local shops. All of these factors impact on small local employers. Flexibility of hours, managed in a fair manner, is key to keeping a business open and jobs available. We are not talking about rich corporations but about local main street traders whose margins are very tight. In order to maintain local jobs in rural areas, these employers need to be able to react to change. Many RGDATA members draw a salary from their business at less than the minimum wage equivalent.

We have a number of concerns about the Bill. First, it is seeking to address a problem which is not present in our members' stores. Our members do not offer zero hour contracts. Second, the Bill goes beyond zero hour contracts to target banded hours. These are very different issues and we believe banded hours legislation is being piggy backed onto the negative headlines that zero hours contracts attract.

As I explained, employers need to seek some flexibility in regard to part-time roles to ensure that during times when quiet is trade, their wage bill does not become disproportionate to the lower sales. Employers do this through communications with employees and those who are most flexible are talked to first. If employees are aggrieved, they have many avenues open to them. They include internal grievance procedures; the Workplace Relations Commission's code of practice: the Workplace Relations Commission's conciliation, mediation and adjudication services; the Labour Court; the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997; and contract law.

Third, the Bill is prescriptive in intervening in the working relationship between an employer and employees. Excessively restrictive labour laws act against the retention of employees. RGDATA is aware of retailers who were unable to restructure existing employment arrangements with employees owing to legal restrictions and had to let people go rather than restructure their working conditions. These were all circumstances where the employees were happy to work reduced hours or accept reduced pay, but the law prevented this from happening.

The Bill seeks to make a certain roster legally fixed after a period of time and override any flexibility clause in a contract. If the Bill is passed, employers will shy away from giving mutually agreeable hours to an employee and will keep hours flexible all the time. This is likely to be less desirable to the employee.

While we are not aware of the analytical data used to prepare the Bill, we and the human resources experts that assist our members do not come across grievances arising in this area and we do not believe it requires further legislation.

In summary, RGDATA believes the Bill will introduce new rules and regulations governing the employment relationship between shop owners and their employees that are neither required nor necessary. Unnecessary rules add to the cost of doing business in Ireland and this adversely impacts on employment creation, local jobs, important part-time jobs and job retention.