Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Leas-Chathaoirleach on his elevation to his new role and congratulate the Minister on her appointment. As anybody who has run a primary school will find running a Department to be very easy indeed, I wish the Minister the best of luck.

Comments have been made in the Chamber about how, statistically, we have done much better in recent years in bringing down the unemployment rate, which obviously is to be welcomed. Over that time, that Government also managed to bring in many protections for workers' rights at the same time. It not merely increased the minimum wage twice but I also refer to the reintroduction of the joint labour committee, JLC, system, the employment regulation orders, EROs, and collective bargaining legislation. Consequently, a threshold of decency was placed under the economy. However, I remind the Minister of the Private Members' motion that was passed by Dáil Éireann only two weeks ago. The motion was in the name of the Labour Party and was written by Senator Nash, who did a huge amount of work in the Minister's Department in the previous Government. The motion states:

That Dáil Éireann:

affirms that, as economic conditions continue to improve, it will stand up for working people and ensure that employees secure a fair share of growing national prosperity;

accordingly calls for a programme of incremental increases to the national minimum wage until it is pegged at 60% of median earnings, and for a living wage of €11.50 per hour to be adopted throughout the public sector;

believes that, alongside tackling low pay, we must address root causes of insecurity at work, commit to further protections for vulnerable workers in precarious employment and bring an end to exploitative employment contracts that foster increased casualisation of workers;

calls therefore on the Government to prepare and introduce a legislative package that will protect and enhance workers’ rights by:- ending the abuse of "if and when" contracts;

- combating bogus self-employment;

- ensuring freelance workers have the right to collectively bargain;

- extending the transfer of undertakings regulations (TUPE) to workers in services such as catering and security;

- protecting workers in "informal" insolvencies and collective redundancies;

- providing statutory redress for the victims of workplace bullying;

- promoting employment standards and the living wage in public procurement; and

- preventing unilateral reductions in pay;notes in particular the University of Limerick report to the Government, Study on the Prevalence of Zero Hours Contracts among Irish Employers and their Impact on Employees, and, commissioned following the outrageous treatment of Clerys workers in June 2015, the Cahill-Duffy Expert Examination and Review of Laws on the Protection of Employee Interests When Assets are Separated from the Operating Entity; and

commends the recommendations set out in both these reports and calls on the Government as an urgent priority to prepare legislation for their implementation.

As the Minister is aware, this motion was passed by the Dáil, the main House of the Oireachtas, so I would like to hear her comments on that, because I may have misheard but I have been led to believe that she is not minded to accept the report from the University of Limerick. If that were the case, it would fly in the face of the expressed will of Dáil Éireann and what is right and just, particularly given that the Clerys workers are marking the first anniversary of their disgraceful treatment this week.

I will touch on the dignity of work and how work is so important for vulnerable sectors of our society. It is often forgotten about in the economic debate. During the turbulent time as unemployment levels crept up, it was often said that unemployment costs the Exchequer €27,000 for every person unemployed, including in respect of the loss of VAT receipts and welfare payments, but this completely misses the point. It is the loss of dignity and self-worth that is the major deficit caused by unemployment. There are sections of our society that are not necessarily benefiting from the Action Plan for Jobs. During the Celtic tiger period more than 100,000 people were in consistent unemployment. Whatever action plan the Government comes up with and whatever efforts are made to reduce unemployment, they do not seem to permeate into every sector of our society. The comprehensive employment strategy for people with disabilities should have been part of the Action Plan for Jobs, but during the tenure of the last Government, the Department did not really want to know about this strategy, which was effectively run as an equality measure within the Department of Justice and Equality. That is disappointing, because if one looks at certain sectors of our society, such as people living in disadvantaged areas, members of the Traveller community, people with disabilities and migrants, one can see there are particular barriers and issues those communities face in gaining employment, being protected in work and ensuring their employment rights are enhanced. In terms of that comprehensive employment strategy, perhaps the Department will again look at how it can engage in and drive it and be more positive about it, because when I was involved in putting that strategy together, I felt that the engagement from the Department was less than positive.

I wish the Minister well in respect of what she is trying to do. The threshold of decency is everything. Having statistics that we can roll out and being able to say that unemployment has come down is laudable and all very well, but dignity in work and the threshold of decency in the economy are everything. Workers' rights and the sense of dignity a worker has every morning in getting up and going to work are what keeps society together. I reiterate my request to the Minister to deal in a positive manner with the Labour Party motion that was passed in the Dáil with the support of other parties two weeks ago.