Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am proud to speak on behalf of the Labour Party in supporting our motion to enhance the rights of workers and to provide greater employment protections for those in precarious and low-paid work. I welcome the former Clerys workers, including Susie McGowan, and our trade union brothers and sisters who are present as well as those from Labour Youth, including Grace Williams, who led a campaign on this issue. They also led a petition to the Minister today albeit I had hoped she would give them more time. In future, she might facilitate that. I also welcome my SIPTU colleagues from the security and contract cleaning industries who helped to negotiate the new employment regulation orders which came into force last October and which have helped a great many people. I wish both Ministers well in their new roles and I say that sincerely.

The foundation of the Labour Party in Ireland was inextricably linked with the trade union movement and we have argued throughout our history that the best means of strengthening the hand of workers and their unions is through co-operation of both organised and political labour. This means that we have been unswerving in our support for workers both in government and in opposition. I call on every Deputy in the House to support the motion because it is the right thing to do.

"The longer the picket, the shorter the strike" is a common adage among trade union members and it refers to the solidarity between workers from all sectors and their representatives, standing together against abusive employment practices. Today, myself and my Labour Party colleagues reaffirm our commitment to the cause of working people across Ireland. The Labour Party's last term in government was marked by the economic collapse inherited from our predecessors in which more than 250,000 workers lost their jobs. We also governed against a background where collective bargaining rights were being curtailed across Europe and where there existed a significant downward pressure on wages in already low-paid sectors, not least as a result of Fianna Fáil cutting the minimum wage before leaving office. It is remarkable then that during the Labour Party's term, we increased the minimum wage on two separate occasions, instituted collective bargaining rights, re-established joint labour committees and provided much-needed protections for workers by way of sectoral employment orders and registered employment agreements.

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We also established a commission to examine low pay. We call on the Government to act on that commission's recommendations quickly. In addition, we began to tackle so-called zero-hour and if-and-when contracts to end the cycle of precarious work among the low paid. It is also a credit to our party that despite the economic turmoil in which we toiled for the first few years of the previous Government, there was not a single mandatory redundancy in the public sector. Our efforts and record on workers' rights speak for themselves. Our dignity at work agenda was evident in every decision that we made over the five years, which is why it is so outrageous that the current programme for Government pays little more than lip-service to the rights of working people. Why is there no Minister for labour affairs? Was the role just forgotten? Is the reason for the environment Department being forgotten similar? Workplace issues form just two paragraphs in the entire document.

It is undoubtedly true that with the Labour Party in government, the economy revived. Unemployment fell from 15% to below 9% and currently more than 1,000 jobs are being created each week. However, stronger economic growth should not mean a race to the bottom in workers' conditions. This is why the Labour Party supports the living wage initiative. We would increase the minimum wage in Ireland to €11.50 per hour and ensure that workers on low pay could live and not simply survive. A rising cost of living necessitates that wages move upwards and work pays in every instance. We call on the Government to commit to introducing a living wage, thereby leading the way on progressive work practices.

The House will remember the Taoiseach's pledge that Ireland would be "the best small country in the world in which to do business". The Labour Party's ambition is much broader, encompassing the whole of civil society and in keeping with our traditions as a social democratic party. Our ambition is for an Ireland where work is rewarded and pays and where working people benefit first from any economic prosperity.

The old model of trickle-down economics has failed and it is incumbent on us all as legislators to recognise this. It is difficult to believe that despite the Lock-out occurring more than a century ago, there exists a cohort of employers willing to exploit their staff and undermine their conditions. The Clerys workers, who are present, were abandoned by the new owners of their store without notice, an example of vulture capitalism where profit supersedes human dignity at every level. It was a disgrace. The workers had been mainstays of Clerys for decades and were shown damn all respect in the termination of their employment.

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