Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Bill, which the Labour Party will be supporting. I thank the Tánaiste for his work in respect of it. As has been said, people often take trade unionism for granted or do not understand the nature of it and what it achieves. People's interaction with trade unionism, if they familiar with it, often involves their seeing images of picket lines, protests or placards. However, what trade unionism does all the time is work to improve the conditions of workers. It works with the Government, Departments and individual Ministers, it gets legislation over the line and it improves the lot of the workforce. That is why unions are so important. As has been said, that is why people need to be members of unions. It is not always about disputes, although disputes will happen in any walk of life. It is about spotting a problem, seeing a resolution, working with fair-minded people in government who are willing to work with trade unions in getting something over the line. In fairness to the Tánaiste, he has worked in a fair-minded way on this issue and has brought forward this legislation. That is to his credit.

It is slightly depressing that legislation such as this is deemed necessary. You would have thought that if an industry dealt with its workers fairly, a tip allocated to a worker would remain in that worker’s possession. Unfortunately, however, we cannot have that level of trust with certain industries. That is why we need legislation in this regard. We have to reflect on the hospitality industry in Ireland. It is important that we restate this. The level of vulnerability of workers in this industry and the level of low pay, as has been outlined, are quite stark. Some 23% of Irish workers are on low pay by OECD standards. We have the third-highest proportion of low-paid workers in the OECD. That is something which shames us. A very high proportion of those workers are in the hospitality sector. They are disproportionately migrants and women.

It is not just the cost-of-living crisis that should make us reflect on how difficult it is to be in low-paid employment. That is a constant struggle. Also there are vulnerabilities around the security of that employment, and, certainly, the number of the workers in question who are unionised can be lower than in other sectors. That is the very reason why legislation such as that before us is necessary.

The Labour Party congratulates the One Galway movement, the One Cork movement and Senator Gavan who brought forward legislation on this matter in the Seanad.

The hospitality industry always seems to be at the forefront of advocating for lower wages, for the breaking of sectoral pay agreements, for the disbandment of joint labour committees or whatever. The industry appears to be resistant to change and is unmoved by the reality of the workers who keep their businesses afloat being paid so poorly and being so poorly treated. The industry is held together by low-paid workers and by those who are particularly vulnerable.

While we absolutely welcome the Bill, we need to have a wider discussion about stronger collective bargaining rights for workers. We need to have a scenario where not just that the workers have the right to join unions but where there is a requirement on employers to engage with those unions. It is no accident that the weakness of collective bargaining legislation in Ireland is a direct correlation to the numbers of people who are on low pay. If you are a member of a union and if you work in a unionised profession, the productivity and pay relating to that profession are better and everybody is enhanced by being involved in the relevant industry.

However, when one has an industry which seems to be built on profit-making from the hard labour, insecurity and low pay of vulnerable sections of society working in that industry, then that has to be challenged.

The Labour Party, and our spokesperson, Senator Marie Sherlock, welcome this legislation. It reflects well on the Government. It reflects well on the Department in which the Minister of State, Deputy English, works. We look forward to the next Stages of the Bill next week.

The Minister of State will accept that we make this argument on this side of the House regularly. We have a problem with low pay in Ireland. We are a low-pay economy. We stand out as a matter of shame in Europe on the rates of low pay. It affects women disproportionately. It affects migrants disproportionately. It, obviously, has a knock-on effect in terms of accommodation and other levels of insecurity in life, such as mental health stresses. It is particularly profound in the hospitality industry. The industry has a great capacity to go on the airwaves and talk about poverty and how difficult it is. Many of the concerns are valid but if we were to challenge them properly, the rates of pay in the industry are partly the reason it cannot attract and keep staff. When it comes down to it, it will have to wise up and not stand over - we cannot stand over as a legislative body - the practises within that industry anymore.

While we appreciate this Bill, this has to be one small brick in the wall of defence that the worker needs to have in advocating for himself or herself. We need to have a unionised workforce in the hospitality industry. Legislation from these Houses needs to protect that workforce so that it has proper engagement with employment, its payments can be enhanced and protected over a period of time, and security within that work can be enhanced and protected over a period of time, and that within their union, people have a department that will consistently work with them to improve their lot. I look forward to further debate next week.

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