Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate today. It is wrong what some of my colleagues are saying. They are trying to misrepresent what the legislation last week would have delivered. The fact of the matter is that 12,500 of the 14,500 workers at the Tesco store are members of Mandate trade union.

The cuts imposed by management on a very small percentage of the workers is regrettable, considering that when these workers were changing over in 1996 from their previous employment to Tesco, they were guaranteed that their contracts would not change.

I was proud to stand with the workers at the store in Longford. What amazed me was, even though it was a single digit percentage of the workers who were affected at the store, 100% of the workers came out, supported and stood with their colleagues in solidarity. The Government needs to address this issue going forward.

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