Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I thank Deputy Penrose for sharing time. I second the motion, the purpose of which is to stem the rising tide of exploitation resulting from the failure to legislate for the principle of equal treatment for agency workers. This joint motion, tabled by Sinn Féin and the Labour Party, demands that the abuse of agency workers should be ended and that their rights to equal treatment with other workers be enshrined in law.

Not only are agency workers being denied rights and entitlements, such as sick pay, holiday pay, overtime and rates of pay equivalent to permanent staff, but increasing numbers of new jobs are temporary and filled by agency workers. The employment of agency workers is resulting in the displacement of directly employed workers. The absence of legislation providing for the principle of equal treatment for agency workers means they are being used by employers to drive down wages and sidestep duties to directly employed workers. If this issue is not addressed, we risk returning to casual labour reminiscent of the 19th or early 20th century. Agency workers are little better off than the labourers of that era. In practical terms, vulnerable agency workers have effectively no employment rights. That is a scandal.

Despite repeated commitments made to the trade union movement in the course of partnership negotiations, the Government is not living up to its responsibilities to protect workers' rights. The unions have had to fight aggressively for improvements such as the recent increases in the number of labour inspectors. They are now being forced to fight on this issue. It is not good enough for the Government to tell us it intends to bring forward legislation in the future. In the fight to stop exploitation every day counts. The implications of any further delay in dealing with this issue cannot be overstated. It is time for the Government to fulfil its obligation to protect decent work standards for all workers.

The absence of adequate legislation to protect agency workers is like a cancer in the Irish labour market. If it is not addressed exploitation will spread aggressively and invasively through all workplaces and sectors. Already its effects are evident in construction, hotel and services, retail, logistics, red meat processing and mushroom farming. Further delays in introducing the legislation we demand will be detrimental for individual workers and employment conditions, as well as grossly unfair to good employers who are put at such a competitive disadvantage that they are forced to compete in a disgraceful race to the bottom.

We should not have to deal with this issue because it should have been resolved long ago. Most other members of the European Union, including the majority of new member states, have introduced laws to deal with the problem of employers using agency work as a means to pay less and introduce lower standards through legislation providing for equality of employment between agency workers and comparable permanent staff. Many member states further reinforce the equal treatment and non-discrimination principle with additional measures to ensure that agency work is used for genuine reasons. Not only has the Government failed to introduce domestic legislation on this issue, it has shamefully played a pivotal role in blocking an EU directive on temporary agency workers. It is time for the Government to stop stalling on domestic legislation and to drop its opposition to the proposed EU directive.

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