Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Veolia is a very large French multinational that specialises in extracting money from public services in various countries. In Sheffield and in the UK, 78 workers have been laid off for their right to join a trade union and to have their union, Unite, recognised by their employer. I am hoping this means we will have no such relationship with Veolia into the future, although this State has not had a good record of checking what companies do. We had the Gama situation, the anniversary of which is this year. We have had many others. All of the bin companies have had union recognition issues as well. I am asking the Minister of State to give a commitment regarding companies like Veolia, which are union-busting and will not recognise a major trade union like Unite, whose workers are having to go on strike for six months, an unbelievable sacrifice, to assert their rights. I think there will be a protest at 12 o'clock outside the Department of enterprise and of communications and energy in respect of this, to bring it to the Minister of State's attention.

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