Seanad debates

Wednesday, 25 October 2006

2:30 pm

Photo of Brendan RyanBrendan Ryan (Labour)

By one who made it public. Nevertheless, he is the person who felt obliged to do so and I hope that the people of Dingle have not made a profound mistake in terms of their tourism identity.

This morning, the treatment of mushroom pickers was discussed on "Morning Ireland". For too long, I have heard of the treatment of migrant workers in that industry. People talked about being paid €5 per hour, a 60-hour week and seven days per week. They are paid by cash in envelopes and do not get payslips.

During the programme, a defender of the industry made the vigorous point that the workers are not productive enough and, if they are to be paid the legal minimum wage, they must increase their productivity by 40%, which is a nonsense. A second point made was that supermarkets have forced down the price of mushrooms by 25% in recent years. Approximately six major supermarkets could sort out this problem between them by asking their suppliers for guarantees that the workers, while not given significant privileges, are treated in accordance with the law. I want to call on the public to stop buying mushrooms in supermarkets if that guarantee is not given.

Senators make speeches in the House about fair trade around the world because many of them take it seriously, but the place to start fair trade is at home and its first principle is that people should be employed in accordance with the law. I cannot depend on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to protect the workers' rights because it has failed to do so time and again. Therefore, the only course open to me is to appeal to the public. I also ask Senators to appeal to the public to tell supermarkets that they will not buy products if proper treatment for their producers is not guaranteed. This is the most effective way to address the problem and a one-week boycott would solve it.

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