Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am speaking on behalf of the Labour Party, which is in favour of the Bill.

I am pleased that Sinn Féin has followed in my party's wake in response to our successful Private Members' motion last month in which we pledged to enhance workers' rights and committed to a number of measures in tackling precarious work and zero-hour contracts. Our motion specifically committed to ending the abuse of if-and-when contracts. I believe the Bill before the House goes some way towards achieving that aim. Another measure in our motion was to provide collective bargaining rights for freelance workers, and I am proud that my Labour Party colleagues in the Seanad have introduced a Bill to ensure this also. I believe that if we all work together, progressive Deputies from across this and the other House can achieve significant advancements in the rights and conditions of workers in the coming years working together. It is in this vein that I offer my contribution on the Sinn Féin Bill.

While in Government, the Labour Party commissioned a study into the prevalence of zero-hour contracts among Irish employers as well as their impact on employees. This study was carried out by the University of Limerick and made a number of worthwhile recommendations on how we might modernise Ireland's labour laws and deal effectively with unfair work practices by unscrupulous employers. Key among its recommendations was that, when negotiating at sectoral level, employer organisations and trade unions should examine examples of good practice which can provide flexibility for employers and more stable working conditions for employees, such as annualised hours and banded hours agreements. Banded hours contracts seek to guarantee employees a certain number of working hours per week but not the scheduling of these hours. This allows employers to respond to the volume of trade on a week by week basis while not hampering the earning potential of their employees to a great extent.

Banded hours contracts essentially ensure that so-called if-and-when arrangements, where employees do not know from one week to the next what hours they are working, are curtailed. This allows workers the ability to plan in respect of accommodation costs, bills and everything else - all the day-to-day necessities to which these people are entitled. These are especially needed in the retail sector, where full-time contracts, previously the norm, appear to have been slowly phased out and replaced with these so-called if-and-when contracts and low-hour contracts which lack the stability of previous arrangements. This is having a hugely negative effect on the ability of workers in this sector to plan for their weekly expenses and plan their lives.

Changes, particularly in the retail sector, in terms of customer spending patterns, longer opening hours and increased competition have meant most employees in the retail sector work less than 35 hours per week across a greater number of days, with many subsidising income through social welfare support or other jobs. This is not a sustainable position for many workers and we do not agree with it.

Banded hours contracts serve to guarantee employees a minimum number of hours per week by placing them within distinct bands. Typically, a review of these contracts takes place and, where an employee continuously works above that band, he or she is lifted into the next band in recognition of the increased hours worked, and it becomes an agreed norm. The Bill would entitle either an individual worker or a trade union working on his or her behalf, after a period of six months in continuous employment, to request in writing from the employer to be moved into an increased weekly band of hours. There will also be an obligation on the employer to consider this request and provide a reasoned decision in response to the request in writing not later than 21 days after receipt of the request. Where an employer grants the request, the worker shall be informed in writing as soon as is practicable and shall henceforth be offered hours of work by that employer of at least the minimum number of hours in the increased bands. The employer may refuse the request if he or she can demonstrate that the business is experiencing severe financial difficulties - for example, if there is a substantial risk that the worker concerned would be laid off or made redundant, the sustainability of the employer's business would be significantly or adversely affected, or the business could not sustain an increased level of banded hours for the worker. Where an employer agrees to the employee being placed on a higher band, this will be reflected in a revised written contract of employment. This goes some way and also provides protections for small businesses which are just beginning to feel the benefits of economic recovery, but it does not appear to include allowances that exist in current banded hours agreements for peak and for off-periods, particularly surrounding Christmas holidays, where trading hours are unusual. In arrangements currently in place, these periods are not included in the band calculation as they significantly distort the average number of hours worked. I ask my colleagues in Sinn Féin for clarification on this matter -whether they intend to include such a provision, and how such contracts would operate.

I welcome the avenues contained in the Bill through which employees may appeal a decision by their employers, and the fact that this will go to the Workplace Relations Commission and be heard by an adjudication officer without prejudice. These banded hours contracts are directed primarily at major retail operators which are running significant profits on the back of their employees and that can well afford to provide reasonable guarantees to their employees in respect of their working hours. Banded hours arrangements have already been agreed between the Mandate trade union and a number of major retailers, including Tesco, Pennies, Mark and Spencer and SuperValu, where I understand they work very effectively.

The Bill also mandates that every employer shall display on a weekly or monthly basis in a prominent position or positions or at the place of work a notice or notices in a formal manner such that the notice is reasonably likely to be understood by all workers concerned. The notice shall contain the number of working hours being allocated to the workers in the forthcoming week or month and under which band those hours fall per week. This is an especially important provision, as it ensures the workers know how many hours they have to be available for work each week and they can plan to live their increasingly complicated lives around these.

I express the support of the Labour Party for what the Bill is trying to achieve. The long-term casualisation of work and the over-reliance on zero-hour contracts, particularly in the retail and accommodation sectors, is something that, collectively in this House, we should all oppose. We must act to amend existing legislation to ensure that abusive employment practices are absolutely cut out and that our labour laws are reflective of the circumstances of Irish workers in 2016. We must also strengthen our industrial relations process to ensure that employers are compelled to work with trade unions in the best interests of both businesses and staff.

The Labour Party recommits itself once again to prioritising the advancement of workers' rights in Ireland and in providing the necessary balance between the needs of the employer and, most importantly, the employees. We must be ambitious in our outlook for the future of work practices in Ireland. I am glad to note that other parties in the House have chosen to join with my party, the Labour Party, in this campaign for a recovery to be felt by all workers, where those who go out and work each day for an honest day's pay for an honest day's work are the first to benefit from the recovery and where their conditions of employment are fair and they are protected from unscrupulous employers.

It appears, given the contribution from the party opposite, Fianna Fáil, that there is an agreement between the Government and the main Opposition party in respect of an amendment to the Bill. I would favour outright support for the Bill by the House. However, if there is a consensus, we will participate fully to ensure that within one year this issue will be dealt with for all employees who need it so much.

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