Results 1,601-1,620 of 6,431 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: The amendment provides that in addition to an allowance for board and lodging the national minimum wage will provide a prohibition or restriction on charges or deductions and fair hours of employment rules. I have considered the proposed amendment and I do not consider it necessary. The Payment of Wages Act 1991 already provides a redress mechanism for unlawful deductions from wages while...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: Dunnes Stores might thank Senator Craughwell for not mentioning it. Amendment No. 18 proposes to introduce in a new section 7 of the Bill anti-victimisation protections for workers who have made a statement or given evidence to the Low Pay Commission via their representative organisation. There are already a number of protections in place for workers who consider that they have been subject...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: We have discussed this question at length. I know that many Senators had their own views on the composition of the Low Pay Commission. I am satisfied that it is sufficiently well balanced to represent the interests of all those we seek to capture. Senator Cullinane pointed out that there are trade union representatives who have a lifetime of voluntary and professional representational...

Seanad: National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Bill 2015: Report and Final Stages (17 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I thank Senators of all parties and none for their support for this initiative. Around this time last year, discussions first took place among the Tánaiste and I and a number of others in the Labour Party on how we could make an institutional change that would make a real difference to those on low pay. We have travelled something of a journey over the past few months in developing...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 1:In page 5, line 18, to delete “other than section 35” and substitute “other than sections 23 and 35”. Amendment No. 1 is a technical amendment to insert a reference in the new section 23, to be proposed in amendment No. 24, and which provides an amendment to the Workplace Relations Act 2015. This amendment excludes section 23 from the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I appreciate that Deputy Tóibín was unavoidably detained. I have given a lot of consideration to this and have an open mind as to how improvements could be made in terms of enforcement and compliance. We need to acknowledge that there has been a lacuna over the last few years, since the McGowan judgment. We have seen the effects of that, particularly in one industry which has...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: What I have not heard in Deputy Peadar Tóibín's contribution to the debate is reference to the fact that all sides of industry have welcomed the general structure and reintroduction of SEOs. In recent years there has been a gap and exploitation has occurred. That is my view and I have said it publicly before and will say it again. The reintroduction of a system such as this can...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 2:In page 5, line 20, after “Part 3” to insert “, other than section 35,”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 3:In page 5, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following:“Definitions 2. In this Act—“Act of 2015” means the Workplace Relations Act 2015; “Minister” means the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: There is no need to amend section 7 along the lines proposed in the amendment. The purpose of the amendment is to allow an employer to sign up to an existing REA as a new party. Section 8 already provides a mechanism by which an REA can be varied in its application to any worker to whom it might apply. The variation provisions under that section will allow for an application by a new...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: We have considered the matter over time and that is the advice we have received. It is the parties which are subject to the agreement that need to vary it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: The advice we received was that parties subject to an agreement might not agree that additional parties should be subject to it. That is the advice we have received and the position we have taken and I do not intend to change it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: It is not necessarily the case that an employer would like to sign up to an REA, given that employers can develop their own REAs. There is flexibility to allow this to happen. It must be a dynamic system. This might address the Deputy's concerns, which I understand. Nothing is preventing an employer from working with his or her employees to develop an REA that would be exclusive to them,...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: It is an agreement.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 5:In page 9, lines 20 and 21, to delete “Labour Relations Commission” and substitute “Workplace Relations Commission”. The purpose of amendments Nos. 5 and 6 is to change the reference to “Labour Relations Commission” in section 8(5) and 8(6) to “Workplace Relations Commission”. This arises following the enactment...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I do not think it will become the default option. I understand the Deputy’s concerns. We have ironed this out. It has been the subject of much discussion between employers and trade unions and everybody is satisfied with that provision, but I do not expect it will become the default position.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 6:In page 9, line 22, to delete “Labour Relations Commission” and substitute “Workplace Relations Commission”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: Section 9(5) of the Bill provides that the Labour Court may cancel the registration of an employment agreement if it is satisfied that a trade union that was a party to the agreement is no longer substantially representative of the workers concerned. The purpose of amendment No. 7 is to require the court to give three months’ notice to the trade union of its decision and to allow...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I understand where the Deputy is coming from. There would, however, be a question about the appropriateness of allowing an REA to trundle along, as it were, for several months after the Labour Court had found that the trade union was no longer substantially representative of the workers covered by the agreement. That would pose all kinds of legal questions.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I am glad that the Deputy has acknowledged the protections that have been afforded to agency workers under the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012, which provides that an agency worker is entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions that apply to employees recruited directly by the hirer firm to do the same or a similar job. Everybody would welcome that....