Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It is clear that in the best traditions of capitalism, many employers and firms in this current crisis have decided not to waste a good crisis. For them the pandemic is seen as an opportunity to wrestle greater productivity from workers. One study suggests that the productivity of workers working from home has risen dramatically, by up to around 13%. This change, from one end, avoids long commutes and expensive travel for workers, but that advantage has been wiped out by employers enforcing long hours and placing greater demands on workers to work for longer. The expense of that work, in terms of the work space and the electricity, heating and Internet costs, etc., are piled onto the worker. Even at this stage of the Covid crisis, we see that this may be a permanent change that many employers want, and many workers may want it, but it should be a choice for them. There is cost to it in terms of the physical and mental health of workers, their relationships and the impact it has on their families. Therefore, this Bill is welcome. The State has an obligation to regulate and put in place safeguards for workers, but there is a problem, because this State has never liked regulating any spheres of the workplace. Workplace safety and regulation were outliers in terms of enforcement and the impact of our regulatory bodies. This is especially true when it comes to the rights of workers. We pretend that there are two equal sides in the workplace, namely, the employer and the worker, and we talk about a voluntarist model of industrial relations. That really is code for the odds being stacked against workers. There is still no statutory right to union recognition, no statutory pay scheme or an obligation on employers to fund one, and we have one of the lowest rates of employer PRSI contributions in Europe. None of this is an accident. It is planned and it has been the outcome of policies of consecutive, conservative governments led by the two big parties and sometimes half a party in coalition with them - traditionally that has been Labour Party but currently, it is the Green Party. We face a problem. We are debating the need for real change to regulate the frontiers of exploitation in workplaces and the new workplace being at home for many workers, but we have a very poor record and have utterly failed to regulate many spheres for workers.

I want to return to the issue of productivity, because productivity growth is very obvious and there are benefits for the employer from the working from home model, but it is not surprising that this is not being passed onto workers. A recent study showed that in respect of the share of the national output in terms of wages, in 1995, 55% went to workers, and by 2015 that had dropped to 44%, and we have seen the biggest drop in the 37 countries surveyed by the OECD, which provided the data. Workers here remain some of the most productive in Europe, but according to the National Competitiveness Council, Irish productivity rates and levels have been above the OECD average and Ireland has had the bigger output among the OECD countries, but we have not seen that in terms of wages. If workers are to work from home, if decent legislation is passed to protect their rights, where, then does the increased productivity get paid back to them? There is a need for trade union organisation, for the recognition of trade unions and for the right to free collective bargaining, because all the benefits will all end up going one way.

We welcome the Bill, but do so with no illusions on the task ahead, that to turn the tide on the exploitation of workers in this country, we have to rebuild the trade union movement and rebuild parties so that workers are really represented in this House.

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