Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Workers' rights are at the core of what the Labour Party stands for and what the labour movement is all about. Only this morning I met workers at Oberstown detention centre who staged a four-hour stoppage to highlight safety concerns on the campus. The fight for workers' rights goes on. While the Government is the tool by which to implement real change, we have an opportunity in this Dáil to shape change from the Opposition benches and also through co-operation and alliance.

The motion calls on the Government to prepare and introduce a legislative package that will build on what the Labour Party achieved during its membership of the previous Government in respect of strengthening workers' rights. The previous Government faced a difficult task in rescuing our economic sovereignty and steadying the ship. Despite the budgetary constraints, Labour delivered in many areas but we also admit that we were unable to deliver as much of our agenda as we would have wanted in respect of other areas. However, one area in which we unquestionably furthered a progressive agenda is that relating to workers' rights. As pointed out recently by SIPTU president Jack O'Connor, Ireland was the only country in the OECD during the global financial crisis which actually improved legislative protection for its workforce.

Without Labour in government - including the work of Eamon Gilmore on getting collective bargaining on the agenda and the work of Joan Burton and the former Minister of State, Senator Ged Nash, in delivering this and many other measures to strengthen workers' rights - there would have been no progress made at all in this area. I believe that without Labour driving this agenda, the minimum wage would still be at €7.65 and the legislative architecture would be the same as when Fianna Fáil left it in 2011. Because of Labour in government, the minimum wage was increased twice. The campaigning zeal of Labour Youth ensured the concept of a living wage was placed firmly at the centre of the workers' rights agenda. We brought in new collective bargaining laws and restored registered employment agreements. Our collective bargaining legislation ensures that a mechanism for workers, aided by a trade union, can advance claims about remuneration and terms and conditions of employment and have these determined by the Labour Court based on comparisons with similar companies.

The former Labour Party Minister of State, Senator Ged Nash, spearheaded the examination of the prevalence of zero-hour contracts in the Irish economy. He commissioned a comprehensive report by UL. The study examined the evidence of the prevalence of zero-hour contracts and so-called if-and-when contracts. While both involve non-guaranteed hours of work, the main difference is that workers on zero-hour contracts are obliged to make themselves available for work, while those on if-and-when contracts are not contractually required to make themselves available for work. In the four sectors examined in the study, namely, retail, hospitality, education and health, if-and-when hours and low working hours are prevalent in the accommodation, food and retail sectors and in certain occupations in education and health, such as community care work, general practice nursing, third-level lecturing and school substitution. There are significant negative impacts for workers on if-and-when hours, including unpredictability of hours, difficulties in managing work and family life, unstable income, difficulties accessing financial credit, etc. The report also suggests recommendations to tackle if-and-when contracts. We commend these recommendations to the Government and ask the Minister to pursue a strategy which will deliver on them.

When the Labour Party was in government, it prioritised workers' rights. In opposition and with this motion, we will demonstrate that we continue to hold the strengthening of workers' rights as core to that for which we stand. When this motion was circulated, Sinn Féin was very quick out of the blocks not to support it. Instead, it is advancing an amendment which is specifically designed to fail and in which it attacks the Labour Party for doing nothing when it was a involved in the previous Government. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sinn Féin's partisan approach to this important issue highlights that above all else it values political positioning above making a difference.

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