Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I welcome the Bill introduced by Deputy Barry. We are emerging from a global pandemic. As the economy recovers, we must take a fresh approach to workers' rights. After decades of workers' rights being eroded by conservative governments, we need to ensure that in the 2020s workers' rights are at the forefront once and for all.

Previous speakers referred to how during the term of the previous Dáil the Clerys workers were left high and dry after the company went into liquidation. We were promised that would not happen again. Since then, a report on the matter has been gathering dust. Here we are in 2021 with the Debenhams workers having been on the streets for over a year protesting for basic entitlements such as redundancy and holiday pay. It is completely unacceptable and the State has a responsibility to step in.

I welcome the legislation and hope it passes to the next Stage. This should only be the first step in what should be a wave of legislation to empower workers and improve workers' rights. We need legislation that does not simply recognise the right of a worker to join a trade union but mandates or compels an employer to engage with the chosen representatives or trade union of that worker. We need an end to the casualisation of employment. Far more needs to be done to end the practice of bogus self-employment, which I have been looking at recently. Some companies are avoiding payment of their fair share of PRSI while workers are being forced to go without their entitlements such as annual leave, sick pay and pension contributions. These are basic rights that were hard-won over the decades. There can be no place for poverty pay. A report published yesterday showed that some people are earning less than their parents earned 30 years ago. Prices have escalated greatly since then. If we want workers to have security, we need to see a statutory living wage, starting at €12.30 per hour.

As we come out of Covid-19 and rebuild our economy, these are only some of the changes we need. We must address the issue of trade union recognition. We must address and deal once and for all with the issue of bogus self-employment. We must put in place a living wage rather than simply a minimum wage. Workers are entitled not only to a decent wage but not to have to live in poverty. In this decade, labour will not and cannot wait. Workers now need to get their fair share. I fully back this legislation.

See this speech in context