Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The motion was passed by everyone in the House except those in government. The foundation of my party is inextricably linked with the trade union movement. We have argued throughout our history that the best means of strengthening the hand of workers and their unions is through co-operation of both organised and political labour. This means that we have been unwavering in our support for workers when in government and in opposition, during bad times as well as good. For that reason, I welcome this Bill, which the Labour Party will support. It is a very well-intentioned Bill that seeks to put into law an important principle which should be available to all trade unions representing workers and seeking to meet them in their places of work. It is a Bill that needs some work and there are some flaws in it that will need to be examined on Committee Stage. There are questions about some of the language and generalisations used. I refer, for example, to the continual use of the words "reasonable" and "practicable". There are concerns about how enforceable some of the provisions would be in law and how they might be put into practice in real terms in the workplace. In saying that, however, we will work with the instigators of the Bill, who are putting it forward for the right reasons, to improve it and to ensure that it becomes better legislation. We feel it is worthy of that effort.

Parts of the Bill could also be covered by collective agreements already in place between trade unions and employers. That is something I would like to see thrashed out on a later Stage. We have seen with the Tesco strike in recent weeks and the cack-handed approach by Bus Éireann management recently that in many cases employers do not treat their employees in the way they should.

I welcome the Bill . I also welcome Sinn Féin's recent alignment to my party's work in this area and its embrace of the workers' rights agenda which we have championed for many years. I hope Sinn Féin will adopt the same stance in Northern Ireland as it does in the Republic.

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