Seanad debates

Wednesday, 6 November 2013

Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2013: Committee Stage

 

2:30 pm

Photo of David CullinaneDavid Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister spoke at length but, with respect, she did not address many of the core concerns articulated by a number of Senators. The first point I made in my contribution is that we do not have a statutory sick pay scheme. That presents problems for all workers. If this section is passed, it will mean that some employees will suffer and lose three days illness benefit and some employers will have to pick up the tab. I agree with Senators who spoke about this continuous shift of the burden from the State and the social insurance fund to employers. It is unfair. I supported the Minister earlier with regard to extending PRSI contributions to unearned, reckonable income. I have no difficulty with both employees and employers paying their fair share of PRSI. However, people expect to get a return. They expect that if they get sick, they will have an entitlement. They should not have to depend on an employer to pay them.

There is another problem if this is passed. Many businesses are struggling. They have contracts with their employees. How many of them will change the contracts when they come up for renewal or if they are taking on new employees? How many of them will cover sick pay into the future? I believe it will probably be fewer. They might not be able to pay it. The same happened with the redundancy benefit. In that case, the worker eventually loses. The worker would have received their statutory redundancy and because the employer was able reclaim a sizeable portion of that from the State, they were able to give a top-up payment to the worker. Now the employer cannot do that because they must pay almost the full statutory redundancy. Ultimately, it is the workers and employees who will lose.

Unfortunately, employment is more precarious. Mandate trade union produced a report on this quite recently, of which the Minister will be aware. More people are working part-time, there are more flexible contracts and zero hour contracts are creeping in. These workers will not have protections. My biggest fear is that genuine employers who wish to look after their staff and ensure they have good entitlements will be in a more difficult position and will be less inclined to give them cover such as this, because they will simply be unable to pay. While many of them in good faith paid their employees in the past on the basis that they would get the money back, at least some of them will be unable to do that in the future. That is my concern.

With respect, the Minister did not address many of the core concerns that were articulated to her. Perhaps she will take the opportunity to do that.

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