Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to speak to this important legislation which levels the ground somewhat in particular sectors in the employment market and labour force. It goes without saying that a good working relationship between employers and employees is essential to a well-run business. Be that business large or small, the two sides depend upon each other. The employer depends on the reliability of the employee and vice versa. There is nothing more soul destroying to the employee than to find at the end of the week that his or her wages are not what was expected. There is not much sense going into the supermarket afterwards and saying, "My wages are down this week, so can we have credit?" It does not work that way for a whole number of reasons.

Often employees in that income bracket are working on a very tight margin and they find that they are in a serious situation if anything goes wrong at all. This could be a flu, cold or other illness in the household or whatever the case may be. It can be particularly serious if they are living in rental accommodation. If they are in rental accommodation and their income fluctuates, they might be partly dependent on social welfare support. That can be in the form of HAP or, more likely in this type of situation, rent support. They could be dependent on the family income supplement or any other segment that might make up their weekly wage. Without it, they would not be able to go to work at all because they would not be able to pay the rent. This is not at all uncommon.

In the past few days I dealt with the case of a person with a wife and family who is homeless although he has a job. The reason he was homeless was that, as is often usual, the finance company or the landlord rquired him to leave the house and he could not afford to pay an increased rent. That is a fact of life. All he could do is declare himself homeless. He was on the local authority housing lists but, like lots of other people on the local authority housing lists, his chances of being housed in the short term are slim to nil. This is despite the efforts of Government to try to bridge the gap and bring on to the market a sufficient supply of housing to ensure that a person in those particular circumstances could survive.

It is also worth remembering that this does not just apply to one person in the household. It can apply to the breadwinner initially but it affects the whole family. It affects the children who may have to go to a different school etc. They may find themselves in a very difficult and challenging situation and may not be able to resolve the problem themselves. Prior to the introduction of this legislation, they would have to rely on the goodwill of others to see them over their particular situation. What I am saying is not unusual. It is quite common nowadays and is the result not of labour factors but the cost of renting or buying a home. It applies more particularly to renting, however, because, as we know, in some cases it is more expensive to rent a home than purchase one. It should not be that way but that is the way it is. If we consider it from the point of view of people in that particular income bracket, imagine the person who is called into work on a zero hours contract who suddenly finds that he or she is not wanted on a particular day. It is humiliating and soul destroying for those who are treated in this fashion.

I do not accept the notion that the Bill is an attack on employers. It has the effect of levelling the ground between employers as well. If one employer resorts to zero hour contracts and another looks after his or her employees better, the second employer may find him or herself at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace. Regardless of the product they sell, the service they provide or the goods they manufacture, although normally this does not affect manufacturing, a distinct advantage can be given to one employer over another adjoining employer. This applies in the service sector in particular and it needs to be pointed out to a far greater extent than that referred to already. Employers recognise it but we should also recognise that there is only one conclusion if one employer has an advantage along those lines, which is that the person who is disadvantaged will become even more disadvantaged. That applies to both the employer and the employee in the competing business.

I mentioned at the outset the importance of a good employer-employee relationship. The employer and the employee are the first to benefit from it. Customers or those to whom the service or the goods are provided are then the people to benefit from a good working relationship between and employer and employee in the workplace.

We all remember in the days gone by when one could get what was termed an "after a bank holiday" car. It was well-known in the motor manufacturing business. It was a clear indication that there was something wrong in the workplace and people were disenchanted in it. They either had not worked the hours they should have, they had been unsatisfactory, or they had done something they should not have done over the weekend and were not in a position to give it their full attention when they went back into the workplace. In those circumstances, we need to look at the wider impact of the introduction of this legislation which will deal directly with those kinds of situations. In that sense, the customer will be the beneficiary.

We also need to ensure a good understanding of the position of the worker vis-à-visthe employer. They need to understand each other's position. The employer needs to know how, for example, the employee is situated financially. Can he or she be relied upon in all circumstances? Have they an adequate wage? Have they adequate provision in their own particular lives and in their household? Have they adequate provision in the quality of life they have? Are they under threat from week to week and day to day as to whether they are going to be able to make ends meet and as a result have extra stress and an unseen harassment? At the same time, the same applies to the owner of the business as well. He or she needs to be able to rely on the banks and his or her customers. How do they rely best on their customers? They rely best on their customers when they have a good working relationship and a good understanding of each other's position in the workplace. In turn, this leads to good labour relations and, obviously, a better and higher quality of service.

We have a situation where people on zero-hours contracts and who found themselves having to return home after being called into work when there was no work available, will receive a floor payment. The payment is a good idea. However, it is important that, notwithstanding the floor payment at the end of the week or fortnight the employee can rely on a certain level of payment in any event, other than being fired. If they cannot do that, then they cannot run their household. There are ongoing demands made in every household. If they cannot meet those demands as they arise, then their confidence will go and they will be working under stress and pressure.

As I said earlier, all people in that employment bracket work on a tight margin. That tight margin can have an effect on their output, their demeanour, their relationship with the customer and, as a result, the standing of the firm for which they work. They need to be able to predict what they are likely to have at the end of week or the end of the month. The demands which arise at the end of the month for electricity, the telephone and other household charges, are predictable. They come on time all the time: most times they come too soon. The fact is when they do come, the employee - the householder - needs to be able to say in advance he or she can handle that. There is nothing as rewarding for a householder than being able to say he or she can plan for this month, he or she knows what will come up and the income that can be relied on to discharge liabilities at the end of the month. If the householder cannot do that, then he or she is at a disadvantage and will not be a good employee because the person has too many worries, stresses and competing demands. All of this tends to make life less reasonable and happy.

The quality of life of the person who is employed is important. It is important the person is reasonably happy in his or her workplace. Several factors can affect that such as if their employment is not permanent or there is a danger their salary will fluctuate from week to week. There may be a case where a competitor may not be as kosher as they should be in how they deal with their employees. That competitor may be working at an advantage and, as a result, may put another employer out of business. We need to realise that this is not all one-way traffic. This is a combination of proposals to address issues which have become a problem or will become problematic.

In general, when we look at what this country has come through over the past ten years, many people suffered a great deal. There were issues over which they had no control. Many people lost their jobs and had to emigrate. Thankfully, many of them have come back again. For many people, their working conditions changed dramatically. To be fair, many of their employers similarly had to undergo serious curtailments of their standard of living, quality of life and the degree to which they could have a reasonable degree of job satisfaction.

Most people enjoy giving a good return for their wages. There is a certain amount of responsibility among the Irish workforce which has always indicated that one is obliged to give a reasonable account of oneself in the workplace because it is one's job. If one looks after it well, it will be there tomorrow, next week and, please God, next year. Similarly, it is incumbent on the employer to be able to say to his or her employee that he or she is employed on certain conditions, that there may be fluctuations from time to time over which the employer has little or no control but that both parties have confidence in each other. To show that confidence, we are now proposing to improve the legislation and, in turn, working conditions. As a result of that, both parties will be able to look each other in the eye, say they are doing their best, playing the game according to the rules and both will benefit.

The number of families on low wages currently is not as bad as it was. It is still there, however. It is not so much that wages are low but costs, such as housing, are extremely high. Due to that, the unpredictability of what lies ahead for employees is an issue to which we have to pay due regard. It is being done in the course of this legislation but we have to pay particular regard for that now. As the competing demands of the costs of housing and rent continue to rise, it creates an ongoing serious concern for the people who live in those houses, first because they have to pay when they can afford to pay. Second, it is not entirely certain as to whether there will be a house there for them next week or next month, depending on what happens. Incidentally, related to this is the dependency on social welfare for the payment of rent. Due to the changes in the rules several years ago, social welfare now has to pay for the rent for the house in one shape or form.

Any interruption in the continuity of payments creates a serious problem for the employee, particularly where that employee has a family. We all deal with people in our clinics on a weekly basis who come to us full of serious intent, know what their incomes are and, even if they have medical cards, are still concerned about whether they will be able to make ends meet if there is an issue like an illness or hospitalisation on the horizon.

I wish to emphasise a point. Landlords get a bad name. Some of them deserve it. Others are decent landlords who give a good service and treat their tenants like family. I pay tribute to that group of people because they have done the country a considerable service in recent years when it was difficult for them and their tenants to survive. They survived, and they treated their tenants well. The other group is the minority. I have spoken about it many times, as has every other Deputy. Suffice it to say, those landlords do not treat their tenants well. It may or may not be analogous to this Bill but, in the context of the issue under discussion, it would not be right to ignore the sacrifices made by the good, decent and caring landlords and by the people living in rented accommodation that has been under threat in recent years and who have experienced difficulties in terms of the continuity of their employment and the return on same.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle will be glad to know that I will finish soon.

See this speech in context