Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate and I thank Deputy Cullinane for bringing forward the Bill that is the subject of this report. I also thank the committee for the work it did in putting forward suggested amendments and improvements.

Over the past seven years, I have seen many items of legislation go through this House but few have been as necessary as this one, which would have a direct impact on people's quality of life. The Sinn Féin Bill that is the subject of the committee's report is one of the items of legislation that would have a direct impact on people who are very vulnerable. This Bill is about ending the if-and-when scenario in which many workers are trapped by powerful employers. The scenario whereby workers do not know from one end of the month to the next the number of hours of work they will have or the amount of wages they will be paid must end now. It is exploitation. To be left in limbo and at the whim of an employer is a horrific scenario for anyone to face. We are not in this scenario and neither are civil servants because our wages are guaranteed. We receive a set salary every month, as do civil servants and most other people. However, the workers to which the Bill relates do not have that. Many workers who regularly work 30 to 40 hours per week only have a contract for 15 hours or even zero hours. It would seem basic that a worker would receive a contract to reflect the hours they work. What is radical about that? It is not radical but it would bring about a significant improvement in people's lives if the Bill was passed. Workers with uncertain hours face stress. I know some of these workers with uncertain hours. They cannot get mortgages or even work other part-time jobs or access social welfare payments because they work two or three hours every day. I know people in this appalling situation. This stress and hardship must be ended and the legislation brought forward by Deputy Cullinane sets about doing that. The workers to whom I refer are also denied proper holiday pay as a result of this situation. However, there is Government resistance and political reluctance to end the exploitation of workers, but it must go. I feel the Government's arm is being twisted by IBEC and other powerful forces. I see these if-and-when contracts across County Laois and in other parts of the midlands. They reflect common practice in the so-called hospitality sector and in the child care and, in particular, retail sectors. These contracts are used by big companies such as Tesco and Dunnes Stores. The workers in question have to be protected now.

There is a level of cross-party support for the Bill introduced by Deputy Cullinane and not the type of legislation the Minister of State is talking about, which is watery in nature. What is required is legislation that will bring about changes.

I acknowledge the problem regarding other contracts of employment in the State. This includes bogus self-employment, which, again, is used, particularly in construction, as a way of exploiting workers who are really employees of a company but have self-employed status. The flip side of that is that it can used for high flyers as well, for example, people in RTÉ who answer a phone for five hours a week and earn €300,000 per year because of bogus self-employment. We need to stamp this out as well.

The problem with zero-hour contracts and no banded hours is that it is a lose-lose scenario for the worker and a win-win scenario for the wealthy. The Government knows there is a problem with uncertain hours for workers. We all know workers caught in this situation need basic protection. The Government knows this. However, instead of Fine Gael supporting Deputy Cullinane's Bill, it has put forward its own Bill, which is as weak as dishwater. The Government is playing politics and dancing to the tune of IBEC and powerful employers that do not want to protect workers. The latter is the last thing they want to do. What the Government should do is represent them and put what is a basic requirement in place but people will see this for what it is. It is Fine Gael's decision as to whether it wants to be the party that represents the person who gets out of bed in the morning to clean and make up hotel rooms, stack shelves in supermarkets and do other work for very low rates of pay or whether it wants to continue representing the exploitation of those workers.

The Government brought in the 9% VAT rate in the hospitality sector and Sinn Féin supported it at the time as a temporary measure during the recession. We recognised it was a measure that needed to be taken at that time. We also recognise that particularly in the hospitality sector and in respect of hotel beds, the rate now needs to be removed. What did the hotel sector get in the budget? It got to retain the 9% VAT rate despite the fact its profits which, as the Minister of State is aware, are skyrocketing. Their profits are skyrocketing but some of them refuse to pay the basic minimum wage and get out of so doing with all sorts of tricks such as citing workers' training and so on. A little bit of honesty is needed. We are going backwards because 100 years of work and struggle for workers' rights is being wiped away by powerful employers and their agents. We need to send out a clear signal and the Government is not doing that. The only people to whom the Government is sending a signal are IBEC and those employers who do not care. Our proposal is not a radical idea from a far-left party and is sensible. We are a party of the left; we make no bones about that. What we are proposing is practical and reasonable and is widely accepted in other countries. It is not an attempt to drag anyone down or have a go at anybody. It is a basic right of workers. One can imagine what it is like on minimum wage when working 39 hours a week but Members should imagine being on minimum wage and not knowing how many hours one will get. Imagine trying to plan for kids going back to school in such circumstances or trying to buy clothes for children. I can guarantee there would be no mention of a holiday as one would not get a day to the zoo out of it. It is a difficult and stressful situation for people in these precarious types of employment. When we meet them and talk to them, we understand that clearly. We are talking about basic entitlements and basic honesty. Surely the Minister of State does not disagree with basic honesty. I am asking the Minister of State to face this head on and for workers to get contracts that reflect the hours they work.

I compliment Mandate, particularly John Douglas, the people who head up Mandate and its shop stewards throughout the country. They operate in a hostile environment. While being a trade union official and a shop steward on the shop floor can be a difficult task in any employment, it is particularly difficult in the hospitality, child care and retail sectors, as well as other areas in which there are low-paid workers on zero-hour contracts. It is very difficult for them. I want to recognise that. We should support them.

The Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, has talked about a republic of opportunities. Workers want the opportunity to have a decent living. Is it too much to ask for? It is the most reasonable thing people can ask for. What sort of opportunities are we talking about? Is it the opportunity to work as slave labour or to lie awake at night worrying about where one will get the money to pay gas or electricity bills, to send children back to school, for fuel and the basics or for rent or mortgages? What kind of opportunity are we talking about? I want people to have opportunities. Sinn Féin and I want people, particularly these people who get up very early in the morning, to have the opportunity to have a decent life. As a left republican party, we make no bones about putting that forward, North and South. We want that clearly. I encourage workers to join trade unions. The only protection they have is to be a member of a trade union. On a one-by-one basis, they will be picked off.

We need to get back to basics in this country. We have a duty in the House, where the laws of the State are made, to support those trade unions that are doing a difficult job. What they are looking for here is most basic and reasonable. The Government's Bill is simply a blocking exercise. Deputy Cullinane's Bill is not perfect. I have never seen the Government bring forward a perfect Bill. Any Bill it has brought forward in my time in the House has been amended. That is a fact of life. We are open to amendments. Deputy Cullinane will speak better than me about that. I ask the Minister of State to put the heads of the Government's Bill into the shredder and let us protect these workers.

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