Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This is a very positive Bill. The Deputies in Sinn Féin would be the first to admit that it is also a very modest Bill. This is in no way a criticism. It is modest because it is realistic. It is a short amendment to the existing legislation. It reads "omits the approximate remuneration for a contract of employment". It is very simple and straightforward.

I understand there is other legislation before the Seanad this week which seeks to do something very similar. We know there is a very big conversation internationally about transparency generally. This encompasses transparency in public life, in business and in the areas of climate action, commercial interests and sustainability commitments. There should be the same type of emphasis on transparency about questions of employment and the quality of employment.

The Minister mentioned the important directives being considered by the European Commission and other European institutions. There is another important piece of legislation coming down the tracks from a European perspective, namely, the European minimum wage directive. This will assist us in setting more adequate minimum wages and a living wage in Ireland and throughout the European Union. It will also force states throughout the European Union to do better in terms of the question of decent work. In doing this they will be required to ensure that more workers are covered by collective agreements, sectoral agreements and collective bargaining more generally. It will move to generate greater levels of trade union density. This can only be a good thing in terms of fairer remuneration and more decent working conditions for people throughout the European Union and Ireland.

In Ireland there are questions about the constitutional position of trade unions. We know that people have a right to join a trade union. Unfortunately, it is considered that there is an equal right in the Constitution for an employer not to have to recognise the trade union of choice of the employee. To a point, this is a question that will be resolved by the European directive. I speak about the European directive because it links back to what we are discussing today. The direction of travel is very clear. If we do not do it in advance, Europe will force us to change our employment equality Acts to reflect the type of amendment being proposed by Deputies Daly and Conway-Walsh.

Who can fear transparency? The frank answer is bad employers. We have made this argument consistently. It is only bad employers who would fear this. Good employers would embrace this very progressive idea. Previous speakers mentioned the difficulties that workers face, particularly those in some sectors, in applying for jobs and having reasonable salary expectations only to be thwarted once they are offered a job. The amending Bill proposed today is quite simple. It refers to approximate remuneration. This gets around any objection employers may have about commercial sensitivity or competitiveness within an economic sector. Providing information on approximate remuneration is reasonable. It is reasonable to expect that someone seeking a job or being interviewed for a job would have some clear understanding of what the salary involved would be. Everybody would accept that this is reasonable.

I thank the Minister for the positive way in which he has approached this Bill.

I am struck by something Deputies Conway-Walsh and Daly said earlier in regard to the experience of migrant workers. There is a migrant worker pay gap, and there is no doubt about that. We know that anecdotally but there is also evidence to suggest it is the case and, arguably, that kind of issue would be a matter of concern to the WRC and could come up against issues in the Employment Equality Acts themselves. I do not believe there is a huge amount of case law in that area. It is, of course, always the case that vulnerable workers who are liable to exploitation are less likely than others to take cases for examination to the WRC or to other institutions.

This is about protecting the interests of the most vulnerable workers across our society. It is a good Bill and is one the Labour Party is pleased to support. I recognise and acknowledge the Minister's work in terms of the gender pay gap information legislation, an initiative that was spearheaded by my colleague in the Seanad at the time, Deputy Bacik, who pioneered the concept of this legislation in Ireland. We worked closely with the Minister and his officials to finesse that legislation and, ultimately, we now have that legislation in place, although we have a significant gender pay gap in this country. It is something that needs to be addressed and I know that is something the Minister is committed to. We look forward to working with everybody in this House to move on this particular issue. I again congratulate Deputies Daly and Conway-Walsh for this initiative, which is very welcome.

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