Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We call on the Government to legislate for the protection of workers in these "informal insolvency" and collective redundancy situations. Tesco is seeking to rewrite the contracts of some of its workers without adequate justification or the agreement of their representatives. I welcome that Tesco has recently chosen to negotiate with Mandate as the representative body of the workers where others have failed to do so but the industrial relations mechanisms of the State must be strengthened to ensure that employers are compelled to engage with unions on every level. In the aforementioned instances of Clerys and Tesco, as well as in disputes with Dunnes Stores, Greyhound waste disposal, La Senza and the Paris Bakery, Labour Party members, activists and trade unions have stood in support of workers fighting to vindicate their rights, not simply as units of labour, but as human beings deserving of decent conditions and protections.

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