David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They are refused access to trade union officials. This is completely unfair. As I speak, the Mandate trade union and its members are in conflict with Tesco. The dispute is about an attempt to change the terms and conditions of employment unilaterally for pre-1996 workers. This is rightly seen as the thin end of the wedge. It is also part of an attempt by the company to break the union as part of what has been termed project black. In fact, in recent days Tesco has boasted and put out false figures of the number of people who have passed the picket line. That is what these workers have to deal with. The company has withdrawn the right to access for trade union representatives in several stores in a vindictive attempt to break the union and deny workers their proper entitlement, including their right to deal with trade union representatives. This is what our voluntary system provides. This is what the Minister and her Government provide for and preside over.

Trade union representatives have been routinely denied access to the workplace in the financial services sector, the banking sector and even, at times, in the public service. The Bill is for workers in the public and private sectors. A denial of workers' rights is part of the race to the bottom. It is an attempt to replace reasonably paid workers on decent contracts with lower paid workers on low-hour contracts. The rise in low pay, precarious work and zero-hour and low-hour contracts has not come about by accident but design.

It is done under the cloak of competitiveness and flexibility. We hear Fine Gael Ministers state repeatedly, when they deny workers rights, that it is about being competitive and flexible but for far too many workers flexibility is synonymous with abuse and exploitation. Flexible work is good, but undermining workers' rights is about only one thing - greed. We are the lawmakers. It falls to us to protect workers and to put in place a strong, robust and effective legislative framework that protects the interests of working people. Our current labour laws have positive aspects that should be recognised and celebrated. While I do, there are far too many gaps and weaknesses which must be filled. This Bill seeks to address one such weakness. It is not a panacea for all the problems that affect workers or the plethora of rights they are denied.

I have published legislation on piercing the corporate veil, on dealing with low-hour and if-and-when contracts, on trade union recognition and on tactical insolvencies. All were rejected by the Government. Every proposal my party puts forward to deal with workers' rights is thrown out the window because the Government is not supportive of such concepts. However, this Bill is about the right of workers to engage with their trade union representative in the workplace. Ministers repeatedly accuse Sinn Féin of opposing and not offering solutions. Today, we offer a solution but the response of the Government is once again to hide behind its ideology and deny workers' basic rights. Fine Gael is a party that represents a privileged, cosseted class. In Fine Gael's world the working class is ignored while it represents the interests of big business and the elites. Does the Minister or the Government care about exploitation and abuse in the workplace? Have they any idea what life is like for many workers? These workers are often pitted against highly trained human resources managers or an employer's legal team and yet are refused access to their trade union official. The Minister stands over this. Workers on low-hour contracts who complain about their terms and conditions of employment have their hours cut by unscrupulous employers, because the employers are allowed to do it. The Minister sits on her hands and does nothing about it aside from vote down Bills brought forward by Members on this side of the House.

This Bill seeks to amend the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 to allow trade unions access to their members in the workplace for purposes related to the employment of their members, for purposes related to the union's business or both. There are sufficient checks and balances in the Bill. It sets out conditionality relating to the permission which must be sought to allow trade unions to engage with their members in the workplace.

I ask all Members, including those in Fianna Fáil, to support the Bill. No Bill is without flaws. I have acknowledged that in recent times when my party has supported many Bills brought forward by Fianna Fáil that were flawed. When we agree with the principle, we support them. Too often, however, Fianna Fáil does not support our Bills. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Mandate and unions that represent workers in the financial services sector, the banking sector, the private sector and the public sector all support this Bill. The only people who do not support it are Fine Gael Members. We have yet to hear from Fianna Fáil Members but the word is they will not support it. That says it all about both parties.

Members have a job to do, which is to legislate in the interest of workers who need to be properly represented. We are doing our job. It is now over to the Government and Fianna Fáil to do their jobs. I commend the Bill to the House. I thank the Independent Members and Members from other parties who have indicated their support for the legislation and I look forward to their contributions.

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