Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Minister proposes to delete a section of the Bill which would oblige the employer to offer newly available hours to existing employees. There are many part-time workers in this country who would want this provision to remain in the Bill and many more who would want this, if they were aware of this debate. The worst and most exploitative employers will be watching this carefully and will be on the Minister's side. They will be cheering her on and hoping that this House agrees to delete a proposed obligation on employers to offer newly available hours to existing employees.

This is an important matter. There will not just be a "Tá" or "Níl" vote on it. A full vote will be called for and the bells will be rung. We want to see where every Deputy in this House stands on this issue.

When the Minister spoke on her amendment, she wheeled out a number of theoretical situations that might occur. Before we look at theoretical situations, we should look at the real situations that are occurring in this country every day, every week and every month. Employers have the power to hold over their workforce the threat of giving any additional work that becomes available to someone else. They are going for new hires rather than offering work to existing employees who speak up, challenge what their managers say or try to join or organise unions in their workplaces. That is happening in the real world every day, every week and every month. It has to be combatted and that is what this modest proposal aims to do. The Minister is ignoring what is happening in the real world. Instead, she is wheeling out theoretical examples.

The Minister raised the possibility that if this Bill is passed as it currently stands, when a nurse goes abroad and leaves a nursing position vacant in a hospital, the management of the hospital might have to offer the job to a porter rather than hiring a new nurse. She knows this is nonsense. Everybody in the House knows it is nonsense. It has been deconstructed by other speakers in the course of this debate. Why is the Minister trying to bring such nonsensical arguments before the House? Her reliance on such arguments is a real indication of the weakness of her position. There is no way on earth the WRC would stand over such a situation. By the way, there is no way the hospital porter would apply for a nurse's job in the first place, unless we have madmen among the workforce, rather than the sensible people who keep this country running on a daily basis while nonsense like this is trundled out in the Dáil.

The Minister has referred to several scenarios in which it would make sense for employers to offer additional hours to existing employees, which is what happens in many workplaces up and down the country. If it makes sense in the vast majority of scenarios, why is it a problem, threat or danger to provide in legislation that such an offer has to be made, as a means of combating the more exploitative employers who pursue policies of this kind? We all know there has been a major campaign behind the scenes. We all know that IBEC has been lobbying hard against amendments like this. We all know which employers will benefit most if the Minister is successful in her proposal to reverse the Committee Stage amendment. It should not be taken out; it should stay in. If we cannot get unanimity - I do not think we will - there should be a vote on it.

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