Lorraine Higgins (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am calling for a debate on zero-hours contracts because I believe it is an important issue affecting vast numbers of people. There has been a substantial growth in these kinds of contracts in Ireland in recent years. It is difficult to quantify exactly how many people are affected because people on these contracts do not even know they are on them.

The contracts themselves cover a range of arrangements that mean workers have no guaranteed weekly hours or income and they are only being paid for the hours that they actually do work. There are some employers, one, in particular, Dunnes Stores, about which we have seen much coverage in recent times, using use zero-hours contracts to cut away, avoid holiday pay and avoid pensions and other benefits enjoyed by other employees.

The thing is that workers are unable to take on other work when they are on these contracts because they are obliged to be available for work on the whim of the employer. The growth of zero-hours contracts along with other forms of precarious employment is one of the main reasons working people in this country have seen a decline in their living standards in recent years. While we have had much good news in recent years on the employment front with 95,000 jobs created, if we do not create more well-paid jobs with guaranteed hours we will end up with a two-tier workforce with many people stuck in working poverty.We recently saw in the Dunnes Stores dispute how many people in that business were on such contracts. We also saw the dreadful treatment of employees after they had returned to work after being on strike. The attitude towards employees means that Dunnes Stores' slogan, "Always better value", has a new meaning. We need to clamp down on these employment practices and enforce an attitude of zero tolerance to zero-hours contracts. The casualisation of working hours is unsustainable. At the end of the day, Ireland will only succeed when working people succeed. That is why I am calling for the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to attend the House to discuss the issue as a matter of urgency.