Ms Patricia King:

I will take that. I thank Deputy Cairns for the question. There are a number of reasons for it. First, affiliate unions of Congress, but in particular SIPTU, have represented workers in meat plants for decades. In some cases there is a collective agreement on terms and conditions but that is not the norm and it is not by any means in the majority of cases.

I sit on the Low Pay Commission and I have taken part in public consultations where we have had exposure to workers coming in from the street to offer their view on what happens in their environment in meat factories as well. We are well aware of the issues. There is a very large body of opposition to workers having any voice in the industry and there is a reason for that. With a production pace at this level, it is the focus of the employers. We can look at the top ten companies operating in the sector. The top company had a turnover of €2.3 billion in 2019 and the second company had a turnover of €2.2 billion. There is big money to be made and their focus is on keeping the production lines as fast and as lean as possible. The model is to work people as hard as they can for as little as they can for as long as they can. It is the model and the companies will resist any infiltration by us in trying to have discussions.

These companies are helped by a lack of legislation in this country. This means if those workers want to have their voice heard collectively, there is no law to help them in doing that. The balance of power is with the employers and it is not a question that we have not said this. We are blue in the face from saying it. I have been doing this for a living for three decades and I can tell the committee that although we are blue in the face from making this argument, we still have not succeeded in getting across the value of having a balance in the employer-worker relationship. It has taken a pandemic to demonstrate the fallout of this but the matter has been with us for a long time.