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

While recognising some concessions to the concerns of the unions, this is still a regressive piece of legislation because it weakens the rights of low-paid workers.

Earlier I heard a Deputy state that the 1940s legislation was progressive. Unfortunately, this was an opportunity to strengthen the rights of low-paid workers, the most vulnerable workers in society about whom we have been speaking continuously over the past six months.

It makes serious concessions to employers in two areas about which I am concerned. The removal of premiums for Sunday working is being replaced by a code of practice to be developed, and that weakens the conditions. In the debate over the past months, many Deputies pointed out how important Sunday is to the family, to link in with families, enjoy sports and bring children to events such as football, basketball, hurling, camogie, running or whatever they are involved in. It is an important day for the family and should be recognised as that in people being able to have a day off, and if one does work, one should get some sort of premium for it. This was an opportunity. I will be tabling amendments to the Bill, as we were challenged earlier in this regard, to try to strengthen that.

There are small businesses that are under a great deal of pressure and find it difficult to pay workers at all. In that regard, Deputies should be supporting those like ourselves calling for a wealth tax that would take enough money into the economy to be able to create and maintain jobs to get people back into the restaurants and the local shops.

The other aspect I am seriously concerned about is the inability to pay clause. I remind Labour TDs, even though they do not like being reminded by many matters, that the then Department of Labour, in 1981, when there was a Commission of Inquiry on Industrial Relations, was very critical of the inability to pay proposition, stating "any proposal which would allow for a fallback position weakens the principle in such a serious way as to make a nonsense of the entire concept".

The Bill requires the Labour Court to take account of the implications for the long term of sustainability of the business when granting exemptions. Employers will be able to plead inability to pay and the need for business sustainability when seeking a derogation from the REA rates. This is a serious issue because if the employers are competing with parts of Europe which have low rates of pay there will be a further race to the bottom.

The logic of these proposals suggests that wages in countries at the periphery of the EU, such as Greece and Ireland, are too high and that our competitiveness suffers as a result. Part of the IMF-EU recipe is cutting wages. This argument is not supported by the facts. The World Economic Forum 2010 report placed Ireland in 29th place for competitiveness, a marginal improvement on our previous 30th place. According to the report the main factors inhibiting competitiveness are our small market size, poor infrastructure and macroeconomic instability. Labour costs were not identified as a problem.

Unemployment is not caused by high wages either in general or in the specific sectors covered by JLCs. The job crisis is the result of the collapse of the construction industry and other sectors associated with the property bubble, the lack of credit in our zombie banking system and increased savings rates. After five austerity budgets in a row, domestic demand has collapsed by 25%. EUROSTAT figures for comparative wages show that hourly labour costs in the hospitality sector in 2008 were 11.4% below the EU 15 average and the wholesale and retail sectors were 11% lower. The most recent figures indicate wages in these sectors are falling further behind in Ireland.

When I last spoke in support of the United Left Alliance Private Members' motion, I referred to a survey of 850 catering businesses conducted by the National Employment Rights Authority prior to July's High Court case. Approximately 76% of these businesses were in breach of employment regulations and, among workers, 53% earned less than the minimum wage, 85% did not receive overtime pay or premiums for Sundays, 48% did not receive bank holiday payments and 84% did not have written contracts or terms of employment. This was at a time when the JLCs were in operation. The Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland reports that one third of the complaints it receives come from the hotel and restaurant sectors.

Exploitation and abuse are rampant in these sectors and the protections for these workers need to be strengthened rather than weakened. The last thing we need is legislation that further weakens workers' legal rights. Labour Party Deputies can dress this Bill up however they want but they are nonetheless voting in favour of aggressive legislation which weakens trade unions and workers' rights and strengthens employers, many of whom have been revealed to be brutal and ruthless exploiters. I urge the Government to pass the Employment Law Compliance Bill 2008, which was agreed as part of Towards 2016 on foot of the Gama and Irish Ferries scandals. That Bill should be used to protect low paid and vulnerable workers.

It has been pointed out on numerous occasions that we live in difficult times. However, if we are to implement legislation that impacts on low paid workers we should also discuss reductions in our own wages and conditions. We should lead by example to show these workers that we can put our money where our mouths are.

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