Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann

notes:

the growth in employment agencies and the increased use by employers of agency workers, particularly in the construction sector and in the hotel and services sectors;

that increasing numbers of new jobs are considered temporary and are being filled by agency workers;

that agency workers, including vulnerable migrant workers, are being subject to inferior pay and conditions and exploitation;

that agency workers are being used by employers to undercut permanent work forces and drive down and depress wages across the economy, and to sidestep duties that they would have to directly employed workers, including job security, pension entitlements and redundancy entitlements;

that the absence of dedicated statutory protection is facilitating the circumvention of progressive employment legislation including the Protection of Employment (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 and the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003;

the failure of the Government to introduce any domestic legislation on the issue of agency workers; and

the fact that the Government, along with two other states, has been responsible for blocking a proposed EU directive on temporary agency workers since 2002;

recognises:

the principle of equal treatment;

that without legislation which ensures that agency workers are subject to the same terms as directly employed workers, employers will always be tempted to cut corners on terms and conditions and casualisation and exploitation will take hold;

that the trade union movement is correct in asserting that legislating for equal rights for agency workers is a vital anti-exploitation measure; and

that further delays in introducing such legislation will be detrimental for individual workers and for employment conditions in general;

calls on the Government to:

immediately introduce legislation to protect the equal rights of agency workers, compared to their permanent counterparts, whereby employment agency workers would be subject to a collective agreement specifying terms and conditions of employment including, but not limited to:

specifying a maximum period beyond which the worker must become a direct employee;

providing for equal pay and entitlements with directly employed workers performing the same or similar work or work of equal value; and

ensuring the right of workers employed by agencies to trade union representation; and

support the introduction of an EU directive on temporary agency workers.

I am pleased to propose this important motion in my name and on behalf of my Labour Party colleagues and Deputy Morgan and his colleagues in Sinn Féin. I propose to share time with Deputy Morgan.

See this speech in context