Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's position on this is indefensible. In putting forward this amendment she has failed to explain how she will protect workers from victimisation. If this amendment is passed there is absolutely nothing to prevent an employer from making a decision not to give additional hours that might be available to existing part-time employees if the employer is irritated by the fact that those part-time employees have asserted their rights at various points or if the employer feels that the level of seniority of an employee is such that the employee is entitled to better wages and conditions than a new entrant. The Minister will allow employers to do that. That is not to say all employers will do it, but there is no doubt that some do it. They victimise people who stand up for themselves. If the Minister gets rid of this she will have no mechanism to prevent an employer from victimising people by refusing to give them hours.

The only defence the Minister has given is one that can be addressed in the Seanad, if that is a genuine concern. As everybody has said the opposition of IBEC to this is not genuine. It is about wanting to give the whip hand to employers and resenting the fact that existing workers might have certain rights in respect of their employers. The Minister should be under no illusion about that. IBEC has offered spurious justification for it, which the Minister has recycled here. However, if the Minister wishes to address the issue of people having suitable qualifications she can do that in the Seanad. The spurious argument she is offering can be addressed elsewhere. Does the Minister support the principle of existing part-time workers being offered any additional hours that are available first, which will improve the situation of people who are on low hours and are the working poor? They are the 100,000 people, many of them women, who are the working poor whom the Government claims it wishes to activate. The type of victimisation that I and others are describing happens often and it makes people very angry, bitter and resentful when employers can get away with it.

The Minister needs to do better in justifying her position, although I do not believe it is possible to justify it. She should withdraw her amendment, leave the Bill as it is and protect these workers and their right to get some extra hours, which will make their low paid employment a little better from their point of view.

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