Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Employees in Meta's Irish operation are set to be informed of further layoffs today. This is distressing news for so many.

This year, we have heard many announcements of tech redundancies with a repeated pattern in tech companies of employees being hired en masseand then fired, again in large numbers, for the sake of so-called efficiency.

In these difficult times, we in the Labour Party believe Government must act to rebalance power between workers and corporations. Workers need not only a right to bargain collectively but also a right to organise in their workplaces, because through trade unions we have seen many of the workers' rights implemented that we enjoy today. Indeed, many tech workers are now voting with their feet and are joining unions such as the Financial Services Union, FSU, to ensure they are protected from global forces at play in the tech industry. What action is the Taoiseach taking to tackle job losses in the tech sector and will his Government commit to implementing a right to organise for trade unions in Irish workplaces?

See this speech in context