Averil Power (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Seanad Éireann: - supports the key elements of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' Charter for Fair Conditions at Work as an important contribution to the ongoing work with representatives of employers on developments in industrial relations and the Government’s agenda of reform in this area, including the following elements:

- a living wage that affords an individual sufficient income to achieve an acceptable minimum standard of living, taking account of the need for food, clothing, heating, accommodation, transport and other essential costs;

- a right to fair hours of work and an end to unfair working conditions such as those highlighted in the recent Dunnes Stores dispute;

- a right to representation and collective bargaining as provided for in the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015;

- respect, equality and ethics at work; and

- a fair public procurement system that protects workers’ rights and helps to achieve wider social and economic objectives such as supporting small businesses, boosting local employment, reducing long-term unemployment, providing training opportunities for the unemployed and young people, and protecting the environment;

- notes the imminent publication of the first report of the newly established Low Pay Commission and the completion of a study by the University of Limerick of zero and low-hour contracts;

- welcomes the progress being made to enact legislation in respect of collective bargaining currently before the Seanad; and

- calls on the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to work constructively with employers and trade unions to continue to progress reform in this area.

As we seek to rebuild the economy, our focus must be on securing the availability of good quality employment for all. I refer to employment that pays workers enough on which to live, that gives sufficient security of hours and certainty of income and in which every employee is treated with respect and dignity. These are the basic elements of a fair workplace and society, yet, to our shame, they are being denied to many workers across the State. Many in full-time jobs are paid so badly that they cannot afford the basics such as food, clothing, heating and accommodation. People in full-time work and people who have worked all their lives have been made homeless as a result of spiralling rents. A growing number of employees are being hired on zero or low-hour contracts that give them no or very few guaranteed hours of work. They are vulnerable to having their usual working hours reduced at the whim of their employer.

We saw recently the disgusting way in which Clerys workers were treated. Some had served the company loyally for years. Members of staff whom I met outside the gates of Leinster House last week had worked in Clerys for over 40 years and were dismissed summarily in the most, cynical and disgusting way. Despite this, we have been told by the Minister and his colleagues that this was absolutely legal. That may well be the case, but it is immoral. It is incumbent on the Minister and the Oireachtas to change the law to ensure workers cannot be treated that way and are at least entitled to fair notice and dignity.

Owing to each of these developments, there is growing concern about the deterioration in the treatment of workers due to issues such as those I have raised and the prevalence of low-paid insecure employment. The Government likes to talk about job creation and decreasing unemployment. That is only right and it is positive that the economy is starting to take off again and that people are returning to work, but many of the jobs are not decent or of good quality. It is utterly unacceptable in this day and age that somebody could be in full-time employment but unable to feed his or her family or pay for the basics. It is for this reason that I support the proposed ICTU charter on fair working conditions. I have tabled the motion to call on all Senators, of all parties and none, to join me in expressing their support for the ICTU charter. I urge the Minister to do everything he can in his work with the trade unions and employers to help to secure each of the elements of the charter.

The charter has five objectives: a living wage; fair hours of work; the right to representation and collective bargaining; respect, equality and ethics at work; and fair public procurement. I acknowledge that work is already under way in some of these areas. We have legislation passing through the Oireachtas in respect of collective bargaining and representation for workers. There is legislation to set up the Low Pay Commission on a statutory basis. I support that legislation but believe there may be an excessive focus on the minimum wage. We also need to consider the broader issue of low pay and to do more to support employers in order that they can pay their staff more. Of course, we cannot put unfair burdens on people. Many employers are often unable to take home any pay because, after they have paid everybody else, there is nothing left. Many have struggled in the past few years to keep their businesses open and are just starting to enter a recovery phase. Therefore, we must work with them to make it easier for them to employ others. We must financially incentivise small businesses, in particular, to take on long-term unemployed persons.

We must ensure we are able to deliver increases in the minimum wage and work progressively towards a living wage. In supporting employers to meet their obligations in that regard it is in the State's interest to have appropriate subsidy schemes. Ultimately, if somebody on the minimum wage has a family and is not earning enough to support them, he or she is entitled to family income supplement. He or she would have to apply to the Department of Social Protection for a top-up from the State, but ultimately the State is paying to top up his or her wages because he or she is not earning enough from employment. There is a need for more creative thinking in this regard and to work with both the trade unions and employers to help to ensure companies are in a position to pay a proper living wage that enables staff to pay for basics.

The other issue about which I am very concerned is the prevalence of zero and low-hour contracts. Of course, these have been in the news recently because of the circumstances in Dunnes Stores. However, Dunnes Stores is by no means the only company using these contracts. Their use has increased significantly in the past few years, mirroring developments in the United Kingdom. Zero-hour contracts take workers back to a time when one had to stand at a designated corner in the hope of being selected for work on the day, as pointed out by IMPACT. These days, of course, people are waiting at home for a text message or a call rather than having to stand on the street corner, but the indignity and uncertainty are exactly the same. This makes it very difficult for people to plan their lives and next to impossible for them to obtain loans. I have met staff who, despite working in Dunnes Stores for years, are only on 15-hour contracts. They tell me they usually work 30 hours, but they cannot get a loan for a car or a credit union loan to cover costs incurred at Christmas time because the credit union sees they are contracted to work for only 15 hours. This puts staff in very unfair circumstances and means that they are afraid to speak up for themselves. They are afraid to become involved in a trade union because they worry their employer would push them back down to the minimum 15-hour entitlement and take action against them.

There is yet another difficulty. If someone is working less than 19 hours per week, he or she cannot receive family income supplement. This makes it impossible for people to claim the State benefits they need to bring their income up to a level that is sufficient to meet the needs of their family. Uncertainty about hours of work means that one cannot seek work elsewhere. If workers do not know what hours they will be working for their employer the following week, they cannot seek a second part-time job to supplement their income.Employers have put employees in an unfair situation. This is unwise of employers, because organisations thrive on the basis of having high quality staff who care about their jobs, work hard and are positive about their working environment. It is short-sighted of employers not to treat people with dignity and respect and to have a high staff turnover because they are only looking at the bottom line and not providing quality jobs for their staff and a quality service for their customers.

It is imperative that the Minister acts now on this issue. IMPACT has suggested banded hour contracts and that is a reasonable proposition, but there is a need for flexibility in some sectors. For example, a small catering company might not know if it will have three weddings next week or none or what business it will have over the next few weeks, so it needs some flexibility. However, a huge enterprise like Dunnes Stores operates in a very predictable trading environment. It knows the busy and quiet times of the year. A company like this should not be allowed to employ people on low-hour contracts. It is not right that it should be allowed to continue those practices.

Another issue is the issue of public procurement. The State spends over €10 billion annually on goods, services and major capital projects such as roads and school building projects. It is essential that in addition to delivering those projects and getting better roads and schools, we should leverage that investment to help achieve social objectives, such as supporting local businesses, reducing unemployment, ensuring fair conditions for workers and protecting the environment. EU directives have moved away from the use of price only contracts, away from the idea that a decision be made between competing bids on the basis of price only analysis. The reason for this is that comparing bids purely on the basis of cost often fails to deliver real value for money for a state because they do not take into account the relative benefits of competing bids for the economy and society as a whole.

I urge the Minister to implement EU directive 24 of 2014 as soon as possible. I urge him to ensure that social clauses are used in our public contracts to help secure social, economic and environmental objectives and to include as a condition of contracts for major public services factors such as the impact of the respective bids on local employment and opportunities for jobseekers, implementation of apprenticeships and training measures for the unemployed and payment of the living wage. Other states, including Scotland and Wales, are looking towards ensuring contractors pay the living wage to employees. The Minister should also look at issues regarding safety, equality and the commitment of companies to complying with safety, equality and employment law and to respecting the State's industrial relations machinery. We should not give contracts to companies that have a track record of not engaging, for example, with the Labour Court, the LRC or other industrial relations mechanisms. We should be using our money and ensuring that companies getting taxpayers' money are treating their staff with dignity, delivering top quality projects and delivering value for money for taxpayers in a broader sense.

I look forward to hearing the Minister's response. I urge him to work with the employer bodies and the unions to deliver on each of the five issues addressed in the ICTU charter for fair working conditions.