Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his Department for the drafting and introduction of this Bill. It is very important and historic legislation. The two elements of it covering the registered employment agreements and collective bargaining are fundamentals in terms of our labour law and industrial relations system. I particularly noted the Minister's colleague, the Minister of Sate, Deputy Nash, when introducing the Bill yesterday came under some attack from both Sinn Féin and a collection of career socialists whose contributions would probably go down as some of the most begrudging and negative criticisms of any Bill, but the Minister of State managed to survive the episode.

There was much talk by some Opposition Members about workers' rights. We got a lecture from Sinn Féin on workers' rights. Obviously, its spokesperson is unaware that Sinn Féin was the very party during the Dublin Lock-out in 1913 that refused to support it; so much for taking lectures from such people. Also, the party's great founder and leader Arthur Griffith combined with the church and the pillars of industry in this city during the Christmas of the first Lock-out to attack James Connolly and James Larkin and called for the Lock-out to be ended. So much for the tutorial from Sinn Féin on workers' rights.

It is 102 years late.

Collective bargaining is essential for people, be they unionised or otherwise, who are on limited or low wages in that it provides them a structure of protection. This is why I described the Bill as historic. It is not perfective legislation and no one is making that argument. As the Minister of State mentioned yesterday, it might be subject to review if necessary. Apart from the collective bargaining element, the registered employment agreements, REAs, are fundamental, particularly for workers in certain industries where low pay is a feature, for example, retail.

Many of these issues were highlighted last Saturday at the protest organised by the Mandate trade union which some of us attended. They were to the fore in the speeches made by various trade union leaders at the end of the march. The protest highlighted the importance of REAs, which were repeatedly mentioned, as well as the importance of collective bargaining to the trade union movement.

For some of the same reasons, the Bill is subject to the criticisms that were voiced by a number of the same people when the Unfair Dismissals Act, equal pay for women and the redundancy legislation were introduced. Nowhere was this more striking than during the House's debate on the national minimum wage, where most of the criticisms were negative. We have spent the best part of 100 years trying to introduce labour legislation that, as much as possible, supports people in ensuring dignity and decency in their workplaces.

The Bill is not perfect, but it was best summed up by the principal trade union leader, Mr. Jack O'Connor of SIPTU, in this month's edition of SIPTU's Liberty Newspaper. I agree with what he stated, namely:

There is no denying [the Bill] represents progress. However, no law, irrespective of how good it is, will of itself tackle exploitation in the workplace. That is still down to the task of persuading workers to organise themselves in unions so that they can assert their entitlement to dignity and fair treatment. The measures envisaged in this new Bill will make it somewhat easier to do so, but it will not do it for us - we still have to do it ourselves.

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