Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I start by marking International Workers’ Day and recognising workers throughout Ireland and the world and, as Deputy O’Reilly said, particularly the workers of Leinster House who make our lives so much more enjoyable as we come in every day to do our work. Lá na n-Oibrithe sona daoibh go léir.

I will talk about three specific topics within the area of workers’ rights. I will focus on collective bargaining, an area in which we are so far behind. While it is great to hear a consultation is happening, I am a bit cynical and worried about where that is going to go. I will also talk about labour displacement and artificial intelligence, AI, because AI is going to be one of the most fundamental shifts, one which we, as political leaders and policymakers, are not yet talking about in an honest and direct way. I will finally talk about the related issue of precarity. This has been such a force in eroding the quality of work that so many different areas and sectors have experienced in recent decades.

Before I get into those specific topics, today I have heard, for example, from the Tánaiste who gave an answer earlier during Leaders’ Questions in response to Deputy Murphy in the context of poor workers’ rights and low pay. He recalled a time when we had to be worried about getting jobs in the first place. He celebrated and highlighted the Government’s efforts in job creation and achieving full employment. While I fully acknowledge and recognise the work done by this Government and multiple governments in the area of job creation, his tone and comments belie to me an attitude I see across this Government that workers should be grateful to have jobs at all, as if they are some kind of kindness from employers. What he failed to recognise, and what I wish to recognise today on May Day, is that for a business to make money or for an employer to profit and simply function, they rely on the value that is produced by their workers. Without them, not a single wheel would turn. This idea that we are being done a favour by being employed at all is a sentiment which should remain in the 19th century where it belongs.

Young people today, including my own 25-year-old daughter and her peers, challenge workers’ rights in a way that will be a real paradigm shift. They are the leaders in how we think about issues like climate change, gender, sexuality and mental health. I believe workers’ rights are right up there with those issues. We are seeing a completely different attitude to the exploitation that has crept into our workplaces and is stronger than ever. It is great to hear so many colleagues raise the disparity in the minimum wage for younger people, which is only going to fuel this shift more. If the Government wants to see that revolution take hold, then please continue on the same way.

All day today we have heard messages about how the Government, if one were to believe the narrative coming forward, is the pioneer of workers’ rights. How I would describe the application of this Government to workers’ rights is kicking and screaming because we all know it is only when it is absolutely feet to the fire by EU directives or other measures that it introduces the rights we all know will benefit society. Collective bargaining is a real, clear example of this because it is something the Government is now having to act on in light of the EU minimum wage directive. Ba chóir dúinn go léir a bheith ag tacú le cearta oibrithe. Ba chóir go mbeadh muid in ann dul chun na hoibre gach lá gan a bheith imníoch faoi phá íseal, easpa chothrom na finné san ionad oibre nó faoi dhíoltas má chuireann tú gearán isteach. Faraor, tá an imní sin ar dhaoine ar fud na tíre.

We are an outlier in Europe on employment rights. Employers cannot have a veto on whether or not collective bargaining can happen. While I welcome there is now a consultation and an action plan in this regard, we have heard from the Government that it believes collective bargaining and the related obligations in the directive are met by the joint labour committees, JLCs. I absolutely challenge that because they do not provide any imperative for employers to actually recognise trade unions or effective ways in which collective bargaining can transform society. Collective bargaining will reduce income inequality and provide better working conditions and higher wages. Having a strong collective bargaining framework is a net benefit to society. We must push for it.

We know – and there was a brilliant campaign, Respect at Work, on this issue last year from the trade unions - that at the moment even organising within your workplace can lead to victimisation. People are penalised, hunted down and chased out of their workplaces for it. Minor infractions are used as a way to expel them from the workplace simply because they have been trying to unionise and organise their fellow workers. We need to see a statutory right to collective bargaining. Despite this, the "Constitution says no" message from governments for decades around collective bargaining, there is no barrier to it. The organisation I used to lead, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, produced research two years ago which clearly defined that there is no constitutional barrier to collective bargaining. While there is, of course, no constitutional right enshrined at the moment, there is no barrier to it. We need to see it enshrined in the Constitution. Tá a fhios againn faoin treoir Eorpach maidir leis seo le blianta. Tá sé thar am dúinn cosaint dlíthiúil a thabhairt d’oibrithe ina leith. While industrial relations are a balancing act, the scales are currently weighted heavily against workers.

Labour displacement is the next thing I wish to talk about because artificial intelligence is going to displace labour in a magnitude, way and measure for which we are not prepared. As policymakers and political leaders, we are not yet having the right conversations about this. I welcome that there will be a committee on artificial intelligence. I will be on that committee. Within the terms of reference, “unemployment” is referenced but “labour displacement” is a better term to use. We will see massive labour displacement across huge swathes of our workforce. If we want to be real about this, we have to look at reskilling.

One of the areas the Government must analyse is the fact that there are certain cohorts of our labour force which cannot be automated, such as nurses, carers, teachers, artists and firefighters. They cannot be automated because they bring a human element that cannot be replicated by a machine. At the same time, however, these are the very areas of our workforce which are completely undervalued, ripe for exploitation and dominated by women, and in some cases migrant women who are completely undervalued, underpaid and under-resourced in their roles. If we changed our attitude towards these professions and started to value them more and pay them better, we would see a much cleaner shift from people who want to reskill from those jobs that are in danger, such as jobs in the professional classes, to those crucial jobs in our society to provide care for people and teaching and so on.

We are so disempowered in our workplaces. The new opportunities and innovations which can help society are currently only being used for the benefit of the few. Our society owes so much more to people than simply using them until they are rendered obsolete.

The final piece I wish speak to relates to precarity. The work people do in society is more and more precarious. It highlights our lack of protection and social floor. While we associate precarity of labour with specific areas like retail and hospitality, the stark reality is that precarity has now seeped into so many areas. I have many friends in the academic sector, which is an area that has been eroded further and further. It is the same with other professional areas. Employers also take advantage of the fact that people do not know their rights well enough or do not have the time or the means to take legal cases against them. In this current climate, as often happens in times of economic uncertainty, it is workers who are the least responsible but the worse hit. When the Minister opened this session this afternoon, the first thing he mentioned was the tariffs. Of course, there is a genuine worry that there is going to be a repeat of the austerity years, pay cuts and precarious jobs because workers are always left to carry the can. Collective agreements and clear industrial relations provide stability. The goals of competitiveness cannot be an excuse to row back workers’ rights. It cannot be a race to the bottom.

The response to precarity should be better social floors, better quality jobs and a rebalancing of the social contract. Má tá sochaí uainn ina bhfuil gach duine in ann maireachtáil le dínit, caithfear dul i ngleic leis na fadhbanna seo. If we want people to be able to live in dignity in our society, we need to address collective bargaining, labour displacement and precarious work. We need to rebalance the power in our workplaces instead of leaving it to the benevolence of employers to engage with and value their workers.

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