Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

affirms that, as economic conditions continue to improve, it will stand up for working people and ensure that employees secure a fair share of growing national prosperity;

accordingly calls for a programme of incremental increases to the national minimum wage until it is pegged at 60% of median earnings, and for a living wage of €11.50 per hour to be adopted throughout the public sector;

believes that, alongside tackling low pay, we must address root causes of insecurity at work, commit to further protections for vulnerable workers in precarious employment and bring an end to exploitative employment contracts that foster increased casualisation of workers;

calls therefore on the Government to prepare and introduce a legislative package that will protect and enhance workers’ rights by:- ending the abuse of "if and when" contracts;

- combating bogus self-employment;

- ensuring freelance workers have the right to collectively bargain;

- extending the transfer of undertakings regulations (TUPE) to workers in services such as catering and security;

- protecting workers in "informal" insolvencies and collective redundancies;

- providing statutory redress for the victims of workplace bullying;

- promoting employment standards and the living wage in public procurement; and

- preventing unilateral reductions in pay;notes in particular the University of Limerick report to the Government, Study on the Prevalence of Zero Hours Contracts among Irish Employers and their Impact on Employees, and, commissioned following the outrageous treatment of Clerys workers in June 2015, the Cahill-Duffy Expert Examination and Review of Laws on the Protection of Employee Interests When Assets are Separated from the Operating Entity; and

commends the recommendations set out in both these reports and calls on the Government as an urgent priority to prepare legislation for their implementation.

I wish to share time with Deputies Jan O'Sullivan, Brendan Ryan and Willie Penrose.

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