Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the action being taken to address the industrial unrest at Ireland’s largest indigenous retailer; the Government policy on job security for those on zero hours contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12183/15]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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A week from today, the country's largest indigenous retailer, Dunnes Stores, will be the subject of a strike owing to the frustration of its workers. I had the opportunity last Tuesday to meet some of them to discuss a range of issues relating to the current collective agreement. The company will not engage with the Labour Court. What work is the Government doing? Is anything going on behind the scenes? What are the Minister of State's views on this?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I understand that the current dispute concerns a range of issues, including the introduction of banded hours contracts, individual and collective representational rights and a review of the use of temporary contracts. The union is seeking to engage with the company on these issues and the matter was referred by the union to the Labour Court under section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 in October last year. It was disappointing that Dunnes Stores was not represented at the court hearing. The court found it regrettable that the company declined to participate in the investigation of the dispute or to put forward its position on the union's claims.

In its recommendation of 14 November 2014, the court reaffirmed earlier recommendations it had made by noting that the company and the union were party to a collective agreement signed in 1996, which provides a procedural framework within which industrial relations disputes and differences arising between the parties can be resolved by negotiation and dialogue. The court pointed out that the dictates of good industrial relations practice require parties to honour their collective agreements in both spirit and intent. I assure the Deputy that I agree that Dunnes Stores should have attended the court.

I regret that the company decided against attending the Labour Court hearing, contrary to good industrial relations practice in that regard. The experience and expertise of the court offer the most appropriate and effective avenue for resolving such issues and I urge both parties to avail of the services of the State’s industrial relations machinery which remain available to assist the parties, if requested. Engagement with the State's industrial relations machinery offers the best way whereby the parties involved in this dispute can hope to resolve their differences.

Neither the Labour Court nor the Minister can compel a company to comply with such recommendations, and ultimately, responsibility for the settlement of a trade dispute rests with the parties to the dispute.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge we do not have powers of compellability but we have moral powers. The company has benefited from the security of a Labour Court agreement in carrying out its business since 1996 and it has engaged on six occasions with the court on the agreement over the past 19 years. It is particularly disgraceful, therefore, that it has chosen to ignore it now.

10 o’clock

The meeting the other day was an eye-opener into how zero-hour contracts work. Store managers have the ability to say to any employee that they can do this amount of hours this week and half the number next week. That is what is going on at the moment in terms of planning for next week. Store managers say to employees that if they go on strike they can only get a certain band of hours. I know the Minister of State is doing a lot of work to ensure decent conditions of work. I previously compared what is going on to what happened to the navvies in England, but that is happening in one of our largest, indigenous retail companies. Some parties in this House always condemn our multinational companies but when one of our own companies treats our own people like that, we have a moral obligation in this House to call them out for what they are. The old Labour Relations Commission was ideal for this kind of situation. Is there any mechanism currently available to Government that could be used to bring some sort of decency to the negotiations?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I am pleased the Deputy raised the issue of zero-hour contracts. As he acknowledged, I have been doing work in that area because I am concerned that the recovery we are experiencing should not be characterised by a race to the bottom. We have engaged the University of Limerick to carry out a major study into the prevalence and extent of zero-hour contracts and low-hour contracts in this country. It is timely that we do so. I expect to have that report within a matter of months. I have made it very clear in this House that if it is the case that legislation or regulation is required to address some of the more egregious aspects of those practices then the Government is committed to doing so. We are committed to ensuring that work pays and that we deliver on our dignity of work and dignity at work agenda. It would be remiss of me not to signal my intention to bring forward collective bargaining legislation to the floor of this House very shortly. We wish to enact the legislation by this summer. The collective bargaining legislation can assist in avoiding some of the issues we are experiencing now. If we had that type of legislation in place it certainly could inform the conduct of negotiations and provide a way in which we could address some of the issues that have emerged in the context of this particular dispute.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Is it possible to turn up the microphone volume a bit? Perhaps it is my hearing that is the problem but the volume seems to be low.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I wish Dunnes Stores would turn up the volume and listen to the workers. A total of 70% of Dunnes Stores employees are women and 76% of workers are on flexible contracts. Many supermarkets have reached agreement with trade unions on the matter, but Dunnes Stores seem to be unwilling to do so. We have less than a week to go. From listening to the workers the other day it appears there is a lot of pressure on people not to go out on strike. Work hours are being used as part of that pressure. People are being told that if they go on strike they will not be given work hours in the following week. In this day and age it is wrong that such a practice would exist. It is as if the situation that existed in the mills in England in the 19th century is still in place. Surely some mechanism is available to bring the parties around a table along the old-style LRC system that we could initiate over the weekend to try to stop a strike from happening and to try to bring common sense and alleviate the pressure that is now on workers in every Dunnes Stores outlet across the country today.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Nobody likes taking industrial action of any description, in particular workers who depend on their jobs for their income. It is never in the interests of a business to experience strike action either. I reiterate the call I made in this House just two days ago for all sides to engage and to use the professional expertise of the very well respected professional labour relations institutions in this country to assist them in resolving the dispute at issue in this case. It is very important they would do so if the will exists. I call again on the company to engage in a meaningful fashion with the trade union to address the issues that have been raised on a consistent basis. Deputy Calleary is correct that the trade union has brought the issues at hand to the Labour Court on several occasions recently and I understand how some would conclude that the company is treating the Labour Court in a very cavalier fashion.