Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Today I had a call from a Tesco worker who is not a pre-1996 worker but who stands full square behind her colleagues. She knows that she will be next if she does not stand behind them. She recounted what has happened to her since expressing her support. Her management has called her in on several occasions and told her not to support her fellow colleagues - her neighbours and her friends. She explained that these are the very people who taught her everything she knows in the job. They gave her the benefit of their life experience and have always been hugely supportive. She is witnessing them being bullied and pushed around to the point that stress and intimidation has already forced a number of them out.

If the Minister does not call out this company and confirm to it that it will not be allowed to get away with changing contracts of employment without agreement, in effect the Government is undermining decent jobs and conditions. Everyone's job conditions are at stake. Those wages and conditions, which were fought for, allowed Tesco to become one of the most successful multinationals operating on this island. I have no doubt that Tesco management forced this strike. It wants the unions silenced so that it can pursue a race to the bottom. It is a fact that 900 full-time jobs were done away with last year in this hugely profitable company and not one of them was replaced with a full-time contract.

As Deputy Ó Snodaigh stated, 10% of Tesco workers are receiving social welfare statements. Will we allow it to get away with this so that, perhaps, half the wages are funded out of it? The right to a decent job with decent pay and conditions must be our starting point. If we do not defend it here in Tesco, it will spread. That is unacceptable in modern Ireland.

See this speech in context