David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Gavan for his support. The issue of casual and precarious work is real. Many issues have come up in the hearings which are not dealt with in this Bill. For example, there is the issue of whether an employee should have the right to seek additional hours. I would support that. However, this Bill is not a miscellaneous, catch-all Bill. It is not trying to solve every problem. It is a Bill that is simply trying to deal with one particular problem, and we were very clear, up front and honest about what that was, which is that a person's contract should be reflective of the hours he or she does. I am supportive of fixing the issue of casual work, how that is defined and how we deal we deal with the issue. It can be solved by policy initiatives and by different forms of legislation. The University of Limerick recommended looking at collective agreements because in some of these sectors they do not exist. There is also the issue of the right to be a member of a trade union and access to collective bargaining.

There is a whole suite of legislative solutions I want to see put in place to strengthen worker's rights. I have published a report on low pay, casual work, precarious work and a living wage on behalf of this committee in the past, so there are a set of agreed proposals that could be used to examine some of these details. They are all important issues, but not all of them can be dealt with in this Bill.

The issue of casual work is massive. Flexible contracts suit some people, and there are some workers who actually want flexible contracts. We are not telling workers that they cannot have a flexible, short-term contract. We are trying to deal with situations were workers have been exploited by doing, for example, 30 hours a week for three, five or ten years which are not reflected in their contracts. There is a big difference. It is disingenuous to argue that this is an attack on flexible work and flexible contracts. It is not. If a worker wants that, he or she is entitled to it.