Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have lost count of the number of ironies evident in this Private Members' motion on workers' rights and which has been presented by the very party that participated in degrading those rights during its five-year stint in power. It is disconcerting to think that instead of standing up for labour rights, the Labour Party actually degraded workers' rights and conditions during the five years it was in government alongside Fine Gael. In fact, it is incredible the rate of degradation that occurred during the Labour Party's tenure. The labour market is unrecognisable today, just as the Labour Party, as it presents this cynical piece of work referring to working people in Ireland, is unrecognisable. Workers across Ireland deserve more respect than this mockery. Instead of presenting a list of demands in its motion, I believe workers deserve to hear an explanation as to why the Labour Party, on numerous occasions, refused to increase the level of protection for workers. Why did the Labour Party allow the disintegration of workers' conditions to occur, why did it not ensure enough resources were allocated to the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court for enforcement of recommendations and why did it simultaneously cut back on income supports designed to address income security?

It is timely that we are discussing this motion. The trade union Unite published a report today labelling Ireland as a low-pay economy with high levels of income inequality compared to other prosperous countries. Pay increases since 2010 have disproportionately benefited higher-earning groups and Ireland was found to have the second highest level of wage inequality in the EU-15 after Portugal, with living standards 15% below the average. A striking aspect of Unite's report is that it indicates that poor pay is compounded by low levels of employer's social insurance, which means Irish workers have to pay more to access services such as health care. It dispels the myth that Irish wages are too high and uncompetitive. According to the report, both the social wage and employer's social insurance are very low in Ireland. The report also outlines the high cost of public services and low in-work supports for Irish employees. The social wage would have to more than double to even come near that of the EU-15 average.

That is why income security is so important but the Labour Party made drastic cuts in respect of this as well. Cuts to jobseeker's benefits, the farm assist scheme, income disregards and reductions in subsidiary allowances have affected many low-paid workers in my constituency in Donegal. Seasonal workers, in particular, have borne the brunt of these brutal cuts. These workers are reliant on social welfare payments for the parts of the year when they do not have any work at all in order to try to supplement their incomes but those payments were cut savagely when the Labour Party was in government. Budgetary cuts in 2012 have left the situation for seasonal workers even more precarious. They might work in the hotel or restaurant sector for a period and then be unemployed for much of the remainder of the year. They are obliged to rely on social welfare payments at that time.

Ours is a low-paid economy and the Labour Party, when it was in government, subsidised low pay through the social welfare system. Today, there are over 60,000 families dependent on the family income supplement payment, which is a direct subsidy to low wages.

Legislation alone will not tackle the culture of exploitation evident in many of our workplaces, and it will not tackle the level of vulnerability that workers suffer through exploitative practices. Enforcement, and creating an environment which obliges the employer to comply with labour law, needs to be the main part of the solution. However, employers such as Tesco have refused to even attend Labour Court proceedings. We have seen a lack of enforcement of Labour Court recommendations. The balance is tipped in favour of the employer, which is a real sign that workers' rights are at an all-time low. Many employers simply ignore recommendations. An employee would never be given this leeway so why should employers be given it? There is a lack of enforcement in dealing with employers that simply lock up the shop and walk away leaving their workers without any compensation. Those same employers then go on to set up new companies the following day and still get away without paying any of their former employees. There are many cases of this and practically all of them involve non-unionised workers who are known to be so by their employers and, therefore, are the first to be exploited.

The way to strengthen workers' rights is through ratifying economic, social and cultural rights. My Bill on the Order Paper, which I introduced in the past week, to seek to have these rights enshrined in the Constitution specifically would address workers' rights and the right to collective bargaining. I would hope that the economic, social and cultural rights will be recognised as a way to promote the issues we address in the Dáil today and ensure that the next time the Labour Party is in government, it will be constitutionally barred from attacking workers' rights.

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