Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Recently, the economist, Dan O’Brien, noted that the economy has increased employment more in the past four years than in the 70 years from 1926 to 1996. It would be sad if we in Ireland failed to learn from the near death experience of eight years ago. For this reason, I urge the parties in this Chamber to engage in new politics and support the concrete set of proposals by the Labour Party to improve the lives of working people. The motion calls for increases to the national minimum wage until it is pegged at 60% of median earnings, a living wage of €11.50 per hour to be adopted throughout the public sector, further protections for vulnerable workers in precarious employment, and an end to exploitative employment contracts that foster increased casualisation of workers, including bogus self-employment.

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously observed that the rich are different. We were cruelly reminded of this one year ago when the new owners of Clerys maintained a Zen-like silence while the company's workers were casually dispossessed of their livelihoods with minimum notice. This was predator capitalism working as social vandalism. If there was a blot on the recent 1916 commemorations in O’Connell Street, it was the spectre of the famous Clerys building shrouded and dead, a death created by a series of clever corporate moves both onshore and offshore, with hundreds of workers and concession holders thrown out on the street.

In 2008, Ireland endured the worst economic crisis in the history of the State, the collapse of the banks and construction industry and the loss of 330,000 jobs. A major response was needed and the Labour Party in government made this response. We now see a dramatic recovery and growth in employment. Without a doubt, raising workers' wages and living standards is central to recovery and that is the purpose of motion before us. The Labour Party wants everybody who wants a job to have a job but we also want good pay and conditions.

An early American President, Andrew Jackson, once stated we should measure the health of our society not at its apex but at its base. As no less a body than the International Monetary Fund stated, if the income share of the top 20% in a country increases, economic growth declines over the medium term. By stark contrast, the IMF found that an increase in the income share of the bottom 20% will fuel higher growth. This echoes similar findings by the OECD. If workers earning between €20,000 and €30,000 receive €2,000 or €3,000 extra per annum, they will spend most of it in the local economy. However, if someone on €120,000 per annum is given another €20,000, he or she may save it because he or she will not need to spend it. This underlines the reasons that tackling low pay and insecurity at work and protecting vulnerable workers is the most prudent and sensible form of economic management.

In January last, Luca Visentini, the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, ETUC, addressed the Institute of International and European Affairs on the topic of boosting economic growth and relaunching the social model. Mr. Visentini referred to Ireland as a positive experience and stated:

The ETUC recognise the Irish example has become a positive benchmark for all the countries in Europe since here trade unions and social partners have managed to restore the industrial relations, minimum wage systems and what was completely destroyed by the troika intervention in the past. We really appreciated what the Irish trade unions and social partners were able to do in the last couple of years and we discuss a lot about this positive experience because this could really be an example for other countries.

New politics tonight is about supporting this motion. I call on the parties and Independent Deputies to support progressive politics. It stands to reason that a wage-led recovery will increase confidence in Ireland and support the growth of small business because people will have more money in their pockets to spend in their local shops and businesses.

In so far as the Government amendment is concerned, I welcome the commitment to at least review the application of the living wage within the public service and encourage its adoption across the economy.

We could go further faster and Labour will keep a careful eye on what the Government does to deliver on this commitment. It is long past the time when the Government can simply and blankly repeat that it will, at some stage, respond to the University of Limerick study on zero-hour and low-hour contracts. When and how will it respond? Does the Government accept the report or not?

On the Clerys issue, the Government amendment reads as if the Duffy-Cahill report had not been published weeks ago or as if nobody on that side of the House has read it yet. The Clerys workers and other vulnerable employees are entitled by now to more than soothing non-committal generalities.

The most recent figures from the CSO show that unemployment is at its lowest level - 7.8% - since the crash. The rate of unemployment has been halved from when the Labour Party took office in 2011 until it left office a few weeks ago. The rate of youth unemployment has also been halved and employers are again recruiting young people from universities, colleges and other educational institutions throughout the country. We want to make Ireland a more attractive place in which to live and to create a more prosperous society. Therefore, supporting this motion is one of the key pieces in the jigsaw to building a better Ireland.

I worked closely with the trade unions during my period as Minister. With the help of Kieran Mulvey and Unite, I was delighted to be able to do justice by the Waterford Glass workers in finally getting their pension entitlements paid after the issue had spent many years before the European courts. That was an important injection of cash and confidence for the economy of a city which was very depressed and which is still recovering. I also want to thank SIPTU for its input into issues such as this. I stood with the workers at the Paris Bakery and sorted out their redundancy payments. I did not look for publicity for that. I did the same in the case of Vita Cortex workers. The Labour Party totally reformed the redundancy system from one where, after the crash, people were obliged to wait from two to four years for redundancy payments to one where those who are made redundant or, worse still, caught up in cases of insolvency, will get their money relatively quickly. I specifically thank SIPTU and its general officers in that regard.

When Clerys closed down and threw people out, there was not even a place in which to meet the workers to go through their social welfare entitlements, with some dignity, and get them their insolvency and redundancy payments. Members will recall that many of these workers, some of whom I know personally, had been employed by Clerys for 46 years. This was not just their workplace, but their family and their life. I will never forget that SIPTU and people such as Jack O'Connor, Gene Mealy and Joe O'Flynn made rooms available to the Department of Social Protection on one of the floors in the SIPTU offices to allow people to sort out their personal affairs regarding their insolvency entitlements with dignity and in privacy.

I am aware that for many right-on political people, stuff like this does not always matter, but to me it does. It continues to matter that we always treat people at work with the dignity they are entitled to and it matters that they get the entitlements to which they are legally entitled.

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