Brendan Ryan (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Tesco dispute, like the Bus Éireann dispute, and the Dublin Bus and Luas disputes in recent months, highlights one cast-iron fact about this Government - it does not have a clue about industrial relations. It is not only that it does not have a feel for it but it just does not understand it. The reason is that in the eyes of this Government, the worker is a dispensable player in the economic game. I believe companies are emboldened by this stance from Government. As a result, we see Tesco, a company which boasts about its market share, its growth and its profits, attack the terms and conditions of its most experienced employees, the backbone of the company. The company knows it has a Government that, at best, is benign to such behaviour and, at worst, encourages it.

We have 21 Deputies speaking on this issue today - that is, 13% of the Dáil - and yet no one from the Government back benches or the Independents support the wish to support the Tesco workers. The public certainly supports them. Turnover is down 80% in picketed stores.

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