Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin has tabled this motion because we seek an end to the current regime of weak regulation and poor enforcement of workers' rights. The current configuration of employment as a secondary responsibility within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, while its primary focus is on enterprise and competition policy, is a major cause of the failure to give appropriate priority to workers' rights. We argue that to redress this position there must be an immediate decoupling of departmental responsibility for labour affairs from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The early 1990s saw a shift in the approach to labour affairs and industrial relations. This commenced with the enactment of the Industrial Relations Act 1990. This legislation hamstrung the development of trade unions and the ability of unions to act on behalf of their members. It put restrictions on strike action, ballots and secondary disputes. Then, in 1993, the Department of Labour was abolished completely under the then Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition Government. The Department of Enterprise and Employment was created, later becoming the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. This represented a significant backward step, effectively demoting labour affairs and deprioritising the promotion and protection of workers' rights. Labour affairs is now handled primarily by a Minister of State.

The chief focus of the Department is on enterprise and competition policy. The largest proportion of the funding provided for the Department is allocated to these areas rather than to employment rights or industrial relations. The Labour Court is under-resourced, resulting in lengthy waiting times for processing cases. The labour inspectorate, with only 31 inspectors, falls far short of what is required to enforce existing labour law for an expanding workforce. Irish workers enjoy inferior work-life balance rights to their European counterparts. The plight of low paid workers is not being addressed given that the richest 20% earn 12 times as much as the poorest 20%. We do not have equal pay for equal work as gender pay differentials persist. Anecdotal evidence suggests that civil servants within the Department are often unsympathetic to workers' rights related issues.

Sinn Féin has brought this motion before the Dáil because there is a fundamental contradiction at the heart of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment as it is structured; this is a contradiction which is harmful to the interests of workers. On one hand, the enterprise agencies and in particular IDA Ireland, when seeking to attract foreign direct investment, promote the State's weak regularity regime and absence of compulsory trade union recognition as positive attributes while, on the other hand, a unit within the Department has responsibility for the promotion of employment rights. Basically, one section of the Department brings in companies noted for their anti-union stance while another section, theoretically, is supposed to ensure that workers' rights are upheld. That is an impossible position.

This contradiction is exemplified in 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 Competition Authority is treating these mainly low paid workers as commercial companies and using a measure designed to prevent price-fixing to attack their rights. Yet, there is no advocate in Government who is willing to act in defence of these workers.

The Department pursues a policy where workers' rights are sacrificed to increase competitiveness. The Department has clearly accepted the arguments of those who want us to emulate the low cost base in eastern Europe and developing states through cutting labour costs by interfering with workers' rights, standards and terms of employment and by the displacement of workers and their replacement with migrant workers on lower pay and diminished conditions. We all want a competitive economy but competitiveness achieved on such foundations is not acceptable.

It is worth noting that it is not customary in other European states for one Department to deal with these contradictory responsibilities, further demonstrating that it is not good practice. France has a Minister for Employment, Social Cohesion and Housing, Finland has a Minister of Labour Affairs, Norway has a Minister for Labour Affairs and Social Inclusion and Germany has a Department of Labour and Social Affairs. At EU level, labour affairs and workers' rights issues are dealt with by a Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.

When the Minister of State contributes no doubt he will claim that enterprise and employment are complementary and not contradictory. There are those who support the current configuration and who have benefited from it. Those who benefit include the unscrupulous employers who exploit a weak regulatory regime and insufficient enforcement to increase their profits by exploiting their workers. Another group who benefit are employers who risk their workers' health and safety by cutting corners and who make the calculation that the savings to be gained by risking the health and safety of their workers outweigh the penalties for non-compliance, if caught. SIPTU has described the penalties for non-compliance with employment rights legislation as "so paltry as to have absolutely no deterrent effect". The State's largest union has said it no longer has confidence in the current regime for the enforcement of workers' legal rights because of the grossly inadequate resources provided to the labour inspectorate.

The motion tabled by Sinn Féin sets out the rights which must be at the core of employment policy. We need a Department of labour affairs that is focused on upholding the rights of workers to ensure they are free from exploitation and have a right to a fair remuneration, sufficient for a decent standard of living; equal pay for equal work; and work in safe conditions that are not harmful to their health and well-being. The rights of workers to form, join and be represented by trade unions, negotiate contracts of employment and engage in industrial action must also be upheld and promoted. The State has obligations to uphold many of these rights under a number of international instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the revised European social charter.

There must be a recognition of the need to reform the Government's approach to labour affairs. Economic growth has been accompanied by a growth in the exploitation of workers. In the face of globalisation and aggressive corporate greed, the necessity to protect workers has never been greater. Labour standards and workers' terms and conditions of employment are under increasing pressure and attack. This is obvious from the growing revelations of exploitation of workers and from the anti-union actions of an increasing number of employers.

Deputies Ó Snodaigh and Ferris will go into greater detail on these issues.

Sinn Féin rejects absolutely the notion that workers' rights must be bargained and fought for across the table at social partnership talks. The rights of workers are fundamental to society and, consequently, the Government has an absolute duty to ensure these rights are upheld. We cannot continue with the regime of weak regulation and feeble enforcement. It is vital that there is a voice at Cabinet making the case in defence of workers, a voice which is not compromised by other primary and contradictory responsibilities. There must be a robust and focused response to the race to the bottom. That must come through a stand-alone department of labour driven by a minister for labour affairs and scrutinised by an Oireachtas joint committee on labour affairs. That is what is necessary and that is what the Taoiseach must deliver.

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