John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I attended the launch of Mandate's Secure Hours - Better Future campaign earlier this week. One of the workers who spoke at that event, Muireann Dalton, happens to be a constituent of mine in Wicklow. She detailed her experiences as an employee of Dunnes Stores. She explained that she works 35 hours in some weeks but just 15 hours in other weeks. Her contract is for 15 hours. She has no idea from week to week if she will be able to afford to pay her mortgage. Some weeks, she has to decide whether to pay her mortgage or put food on the table for her family. She is one of many workers across the State who get up very early every day to go to work to provide for their families. The Government talks about supporting such people. They are supposed to be benefitting from this Government.

At the Mandate briefing, I signed the Secure Hours - Better Future charter, which commits me to work to legislate for secure hours, to give workers security of hours and of income, to support decency for workers and to reject entirely exploitation and abuse of power. The Bill proposed by Deputy Cullinane on behalf of Sinn Féin does exactly that. The Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016 aims to enshrine the actual hours worked by employees in their contracts of employment. It is as simple as that. We cannot overstate the importance of this legislation and the meaning it bears for so many people across the State. We are talking about the difference between qualifying for a mortgage and not qualifying for a mortgage. We are talking about the difference between being able to plan for the future and not being able to plan from one end of the week to the next because of the lack of security of hours or income. We are talking about the difference between parents being able to provide for their children and not being able to meet their basic needs.

Providing for security of hours will lead to no additional costs for employers like Dunnes Stores and will have no financial impact on them. As the workers are working these hours already, this proposal is completely cost-neutral. It is simply a question of reflecting in employee contracts the actual hours they work, and nothing more. The Banded Hours Contract Bill 2016 was passed by the Dáil on Second Stage and proceeded to the committee. That is why we are here. There was a lengthy discussion at the Business Committee about arranging today's debate in the Dáil Chamber. I am glad the debate is taking place. I commend the Deputies who pushed for it. I applaud the members of the Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation who took part in the discussions at that forum. My colleague, Deputy Cullinane, is big enough to acknowledge that his Bill might not be perfect for all the reasons that have been outlined. The committee examined it extensively. It brought in a vast range of witnesses and made 21 recommendations on foot of its work.

Unfortunately, the tactic being used by the Government in respect of this Bill and many other Opposition Bills is to park or shelve it while we wait on a money message. In this case, its strategy also involves the introduction of a Bill of its own. As Mandate has described, the Government Bill will certainly not do anything near what it says on the can. It will not abolish zero-hour contracts. It will actually cause more difficulties. Many people who have examined the heads of the Government Bill share my view that elements of it may well be unconstitutional. One of the heads of the Bill purports to ban zero-hour contracts except where the employment is of a casual nature, which is absolutely farcical because zero-hour contracts are casual by their very nature. The Government's proposal would create more problems. The legislation introduced by Deputy Cullinane provides for a nine-month look-back period. The committee has recommended that there should be a 12-month look-back period. The heads of the Government Bill, which are all we have to go on because we have not seen the Bill itself, talk about an 18-month look-back period, which would cause serious problems for workers. It would immediately lead to employers messing around with employment.

I ask the Government to stop playing around with this issue. It should stop playing politics. If it is serious about addressing the concerns of workers across the State, it should grant a money message and allow Deputy Cullinane's Bill to move forward.

Workers cannot afford to wait for what will be flawed legislation from the Government. That legislation will certainly not address the issues and it will not do what it says on the tin.

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