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

The tech industry epitomised cool capitalism's 21st century messaging: “Hi, come on in. Have a job. Pick a desk. Unions? No need for unions here. No need for workers’ organisation. Yes, we are a company, but we are more like a family, so welcome to the family”. Behind hype, there is always a reality. Some of the realities behind this industry’s ruthless billionaire owners’ hype have, unfortunately for the workers concerned, become increasingly clear in recent weeks. In this country, it seems that 350 jobs are to be lost at Meta, 250 jobs are to be lost at Twitter, 80 jobs are to be lost at Stripe and maybe 30 more are to be lost at Zendesk. A total of 700 jobs have been axed or are to be axed and the number is rising. Of course, tens of thousands of jobs are to be massacred in the name of profit internationally. At Twitter, workers were locked out of their jobs and received notice of sacking by e-mail. Despite the fact that unionised Debenhams workers were also sacked by e-mail, one national newspaper commented, I think correctly, that, "The manner in which people are being told of their redundancy has turned a harsh light on the tech industry's union-free labour practices".

I want to offer my sympathy and my solidarity to tech workers who have received blows in recent weeks. Tech workers now need to challenge the industry’s union-free practices. Tech workers need to organise. Any tech worker who wants to discuss organising is free to contact my office and I will offer whatever help and advice that I can. The union-free practices of the tech industry and the billionaires who own it have been greatly facilitated by this Government and its predecessor, and perhaps by no other Minister to the same degree as the Tánaiste. He is the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, but despite the fact that in nearly all European countries there is legislation in place that came about as a result of pressure from below which provides for mandatory trade union recognition, there is no such legislation in place here. The Tánaiste says that legislative changes are on the way, but will they amount to full mandatory trade union recognition? Given the events of recent weeks, will the Tánaiste accept that Governments have facilitated these union-free practices and the poor treatment of workers seen in this country in recent weeks and that now is the time for far-reaching change and for mandatory trade union recognition?

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