Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Bringing clarity to working hours is essential to creating decent jobs. Workers in precarious zero-hour contract positions face uncertainty every week in terms of the hours they are required to work, which impacts greatly on the whole family. The argument for why zero-hour contracts are bad for workers is obvious. Without a set number of guaranteed working hours, many workers will struggle to plan financially and are unable to take out a loan, get a mortgage or simply plan ahead. Those seeking full-time employment or who are a family's main breadwinner struggle to plan adequately for the future.

Fianna Fáil supports the banning of zero-hour contracts that are abusive towards workers. Workers deserve a fair reward for the work performed. Too many workers, of which the majority are women, are in unstable work as they are only offered part-time temporary employment or zero-hour contracts. I welcome the report from the University of Limerick on the prevalence of zero-hour and low-hour contracts in Ireland. I ask the Minister and Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to examine its recommendations carefully.

Fianna Fáil supports banning zero-hour contracts that are abusive towards workers and changing the remit of the Low Pay Commission to put forward legislation on banded hour contracts for those on low pay. However, even though well-intentioned, the Bill is a short-sighted attempt to deal with the issues at hand, with the proposals being quite inflexible for small businesses.

The Bill requires significant changes and intense scrutiny before it proceeds to Committee Stage. We in Fianna Fáil have tabled an amendment to the motion for Second Reading. The amendment agrees that the Bill will be read a second time 12 months from now after hearings on the Bill are held on the fundamental matters that are not resolved in this simplistic Bill. The amendment reads:

To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following:“Dáil Éireann resolves that the Bill be deemed to be read a second time this day twelvemonths, to allow for scrutiny by the Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and for the Committee to consider submissions and hold hearings that have regard in particular to ensure that:

(a) the proposed Bill examines proposals to ban zero hour contracts and the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work that prevents workers in low hour and zero hour type contract arrangements from being able to save or have any job security;

(b) the Bill has sufficient flexibility in its application for small businesses and provides a simple approach in this regard, while lessening the administrative burden;

(c) the Committee review section 18 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 relating to the provision of zero hour contracts to allow workers on low and zero hour contracts a minimum set of hours and the right to request more hours;

(d) the Committee take on board the Study on the “Prevalence of Zero Hours Contracts among Irish Employers and their Impact on Employees”, as carried out by the University of Limerick;

(e) the proposed Bill examines changing the remit of the Low Pay Commission to review proposals on banded hour contracts for those on low pay; and

(f) social partners brief the Committee and make presentations to address the concerns of both sides of industry in order to provide a fair and workable system that works for both employers and workers in a fair and proportionate manner; and

to fully discuss and explore other practical issues and consequences that may arise as a result of the proposals.”

This Bill does not ban zero-hour contracts that are abusive towards workers, something we in Fianna Fáil support as a primary policy outcome. As a starting point, any proposal should be to provide a minimum guaranteed number of working hours to workers on zero-hour contracts within the context of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act. The Bill does not deal with the primary section of legislation dealing with zero-hour contracts, namely, section 18 of the Organisation of Working Time Act. Section 18(2)(b)(i) deals with an employee on a zero-hour contract and reads that where that employee "has not been required to work for the employer ... that week, to be paid by the employer the pay he or she would have received if he or she had worked for the employer in that week, whichever of the following is less, namely ... the percentage hours referred to ... or ... 15 hours".

The Bill is too broad in application and would apply to all employment contract arrangements in the State, with no flexibility regardless of sector or whether an employer operates banded hour arrangements or low or high pay employment. Our amendment would ensure the Bill has sufficient flexibility in its application to small businesses and provides a simple approach in this regard while lessening the administrative burden on employers.

The Bill as worded would have a very broad impact. For example, it would apply to every private sector workplace regardless of sector, pay type or the operation of banded hour arrangements. Our amendment to the Bill, which proposes changing the remit of the Low Pay Commission to review proposals on banded hour contracts for those on low pay, would address this. The Bill details a six-month continuous employment period provision in section 3 as the measure of a person's average weekly working hours, which is too rigid when one considers seasonal work in sectors such as retail, hospitality and tourism.

The Bill is inflexible for small businesses and proposes that all workers, as defined in the Bill, must, in circumstances other than severe financial difficulties, be given more hours on request. If employers do not agree to such requests they will find themselves funding appearances before the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court in an attempt to prove severe financial difficulties. Our amendment would address this by ensuring the Bill has sufficient flexibility in its application to small businesses and provides a simple approach in this regard.

Every single employer in the country would be required by section 5 to display a notice in its workplace indicating the number of hours being allocated to workers in the forthcoming week or month and under which band they fall. This would impose a very significant burden on all employers, even if every staff member was on a full-time contract.

It is vital that social partners have an input into legislative scrutiny and make representations and presentations to address the concerns of both sides of industry in order to provide a fair and workable system that works for employers and workers in a proportionate manner. For these reasons, Fianna Fáil has secured agreement from the Government for the Bill to undergo further legislative scrutiny before it passes Second Stage. As already stated, we have submitted an amendment to Second Stage to facilitate the passing of the Bill to the Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for further scrutiny in order to make considerable changes to the Bill to bring consistency and clarity to the issues at play while enabling worker and employer representatives to have an input into the process.

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