Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)

I support the Bill and its continuation to Committee Stage. How could anyone in the Chamber not support it? During the election campaign the Labour Party defended the JLCs and REAs. It stated it would strongly oppose any efforts to dismantle them or render them useless from the point of view of employment protection. What has happened since the High Court judgment is that workers are not being protected. On that basis, I presume the Labour Party would support any positive effort discussed in the Dáil to change the position for workers who are at the coalface of potential exploitation by bosses who use the situation to drag down their wages and conditions. I cannot see how the Labour Party would not support the Bill, given that it recognises that JLCs are now unconstitutional in the implementation of wages and conditions and decisions made by them. The High Court said only the Oireachtas or a Minister could change the situation and implement decisions made by JLCs. This Bill is dealing with that and states that we are responsible for implementing the decisions made. It would be a welcome move for workers in retail, fast food and hotels who need protection. This Bill will give legal authority to enforce that and should be supported.

I am concerned about aspects of the Bill such as the "inability to pay" clause. It is a cop-out for bosses who do not want to pay a proper rate of pay to their workers. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, also wants to opt out of the EU directive which would give agency workers the same basic rights of pay as full-time workers. It affects 35,000 to 40,000 agency workers. This morning the Minister copper fastened his opinion on dismantling JLCs in his contribution.

In effect, the Minister said JLCs will not play a role in premium pay at weekends and copper fastened the "inability to pay" aspect. It is outrageous. Labour Party Deputies should be very concerned about the decision. The campaign for low paid workers to be paid decent wages recognised it as a very dangerous aspect of the Minister's proposals.

No one in the Chamber can oppose this Bill. I encourage everybody to support it and ensure it proceeds to the next Stage.

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