Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill, which is important in terms of how relationships between business and employees are structured and dealt with. The Bill deserves much time and attention.

The delay in introducing the Bill to the Dáil is regrettable, particularly as the High Court declared the Joint Labour Committees, JLC, to be unconstitutional on 7 July 2011. The High Court ruled that the Act under which minimum pay and conditions are set by employment regulation orders proposed by Joint Labour Committees for approval by the Labour Court was unconstitutional. This judgment followed a legal challenge by fast food outlets. Mr. Justice Kevin Feeney upheld the claims of the fast food outlets that the measures had been put in place in the absence of any policy guidelines from the Oireachtas and breached employers' property rights and their rights to fair procedure.

While that action related to catering workers, its outcome had an impact on almost 200,000 workers whose minimum pay and conditions were set under the JLC system. All employment regulation orders stopped having statutory effect from that date and, therefore, could not be enforced. Following that ruling, IBEC sent a bulletin to member companies stating employees would continue to have the same rates of pay and conditions of employment unless and until they agreed otherwise. This was effectively leading to a two-tier system in which people working side by side in the same job had different pay and conditions.

In response to the bulletin, which caused much concern and alarm among the employees whose pay and conditions were set under JLCs, Fianna Fáil introduced an industrial relations Bill in July 2011. The Government stated at that time it would introduce an alternative immediately after the summer and would, as a consequence, vote against the Fianna Fáil Bill. However, we have not seen the alternative until now, January. In the meantime, the workers have been in limbo waiting to see what will fall into place.

The Bill Fianna Fáil introduced was emergency legislation to deal with the impact of the High Court case. It provided for the amendment of the Industrial Relations Acts of 1946 and 1990 so the statutory mechanism in place for the fixing of remuneration by an employment regulation order would be consistent with the requirements of the Constitution. The Bill would have decriminalised failure on the part of an employer to comply with an employment regulation order, as recommended by the Duffy Walsh report, and would have replaced it with a civil enforcement mechanism. If the Bill had been enacted, it would have enabled the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to make new employment regulation orders in respect of all such workers and a new statutory mechanism that would have taken into account and rectified the failings in the Acts of 1946 and 1990, as identified by the High Court in its ruling. The Government could and should have accepted the Fianna Fáil Bill. It could have amended it subsequently, if necessary, instead of leaving the problem drag on, as it did, and workers wondering what would happen as a result.

The Bill before the House raises some important questions. As Deputy Browne stated, one must question why so few of the recommendations in the Duffy Walsh report have been incorporated into it. Why has the Minister of State's party, the Labour Party, abandoned some of its earlier objections? This legislation is deficient in many respects. As I stated, it is substantially different from that envisaged in the Duffy Walsh review of JLCs. There will be substantially fewer protections for workers under it. Nevertheless, rowing back on many of the concerns expressed by Labour Party Deputies after the High Court ruling, the Minister of State has welcomed the Bill and embraced the approach of the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton.

The Bill raises issues concerning the impact on the Labour Court. Workers already face massive waiting times. The average waiting time in the Employment Appeals Tribunal is 74 weeks in Dublin, which has risen from 58 in 2010. The waiting time is 76 weeks outside Dublin, which period has risen from 55 weeks in 2010. The number of claims to employment appeals tribunals is 7,424. The Labour Court waiting time averages between eight and ten weeks in Dublin and is a minimum of six months outside Dublin. The redress scheme is very complicated and difficult for people to engage with. NERA only examines an issue if it considers it reasonable to do so.

Another question raised concerned how existing JLC contracts could be deemed constitutional. How can the Government say workers will have their existing guarantees honoured when the High Court has said the legislation was unconstitutional in the first instance? How can the Government guarantee enforcement? An employer who was forced to pay under the old JLC terms could, of course, have challenged the ruling. What, according to the Minister of State, will the outcome be in such a scenario?

The Bill changes the right to Sunday premium pay. The Labour Party seems to have changed its approach to this despite its earlier assertion that it wanted to protect Sunday premium pay. In the Bill, we see it can be dealt with in different ways.

The importance of the JLCs is key in protecting workers. We must balance the need to protect workers' conditions with the need to ensure business is promoted. There is no doubt that hotels, restaurants and many businesses in operation for seven days per week find it very difficult at present. It is welcome that JLCs must take into account prevailing conditions and the circumstances of particular businesses.

As a result of the recession, we have created a new poor. Many workers on lower wages are finding it more difficult than anyone else to make ends meet. We must ensure, through the JLCs and the setting of pay terms and conditions, that it pays for people to work and that their conditions are manageable such that they continue in employment. The Government needs to be cognisant of this. The JLCs are an important aspect.

It is unfortunate that the Government has delayed for so long in bringing this Bill before the House and that it is not taking more cognisance of proposed amendments.

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