Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann,

affirming the responsibility of the State to uphold the rights of workers and, in particular, to ensure, protect and uphold the realisation of the following workers' rights:

—the right to be free from exploitation;

—the right to a fair remuneration sufficient for a decent standard of living for themselves and their families and to equal pay for equal work;

—the right to form, join and be represented by trade unions, to negotiate contracts of employment and to engage in industrial action;

—the right to work in safe conditions that are not harmful to health and well-being; and

—the right to access lifelong learning opportunities and vocational training and retraining;

recognising:

—that the failure to give adequate priority and focus to labour affairs finds expression in a failure to fully uphold Ireland's obligations under Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 6, 7 and 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Articles 1 to 10 of the European Social Charter (Revised), and in the failure of the State to ratify the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and members of their Families;

—that the current configuration of labour affairs as a secondary responsibility within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, whose primary responsibilities are enterprise and competition policy, prevents the State from giving the required priority to the protection of workers' rights and to upholding labour standards;

—the inherent conflict of interest which exists within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment as a result of that Department having responsibility for both enterprise policy, including competition policy, and labour affairs. This conflict is exemplified by the attack by the Competition Authority, which falls under the aegis of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, on the right of certain freelance workers, including musicians, actors and journalists, to be collectively represented;

—the failure of the State to prevent the exploitation of migrant workers as evidenced by the numerous incidences of abuse of these workers, which have come to public attention during the past 12 months;

—the failure of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to ensure that the State has a labour inspectorate of sufficient strength and with sufficient powers to enforce existing employment law; and

—the increasing priority that must be given to the protection of labour standards in light of the current push by certain employers to drive down pay and conditions;

shall, in order to ensure that appropriate priority and focus is given to the protection and promotion of workers' rights and in order to replace the current model of weak labour regulation and non-enforcement with comprehensive regulation, including the increased use of Employment Regulation Orders and Registered Employment Agreements, and stringent enforcement, establish:

—a separate and stand-alone Department of labour affairs whose primary responsibilities shall be the improvement and enforcement of employment rights and entitlements, the protection of labour standards, industrial relations, the promotion of health and safety at work and the implementation of policies to improve work-life balance and to promote lifelong learning; and

—an Oireachtas joint committee on labour affairs.

I wish to share time with Deputies Ó Snodaigh, Crowe, Gregory, Joe Higgins, Healy and Eamon Ryan.

See this speech in context