Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of the treatment of workers in this country. There was a lot of discussion in the House when Clerys vanished off the face of the earth leaving hundreds of workers unemployed. Indeed, my colleague, Senator Nash, introduced some fairly good legislation in this area when he was a Minister of State. Members of the IMPACT trade union who worked for Childminding Ireland are currently on strike and have been since 7 June because they were served with compulsory redundancy notices without any meaningful talks having taken place.The proposed redundancies are unnecessary. Childminding Ireland is a State-funded body which is not experiencing financial difficulties. Management has failed to produce a business case to justify these job losses. IMPACT believes Childminding Ireland is illegally threatening redundancies to force administrative and specialist staff out of their jobs before replacing them with others. Childminding Ireland has refused to engage seriously in consultation or conciliation organised by the Workplace Relations Commission, although it has misleadingly told journalists that it has conducted a four-month consultation. In fact, no consultation has taken place, according to the union.

Childminding Ireland has had plenty of opportunity to explain why it thinks restructuring and redundancies are necessary, but it has consistently failed to do so. It is clear that no business case has been put forward because no business case exists. Although management has said the existing staff members will be able to apply for as yet unspecified new roles in a restructured organisation, the union believes the new roles are being constructed to exclude such people. IMPACT remains available to resolve these issues through negotiations at the Workplace Relations Commission. The trade union is trying to protect its workers before some fly-by-night dumps them on the street as happened in the case of Clerys. I am not saying the State-funded body in this case is wrong in its belief that redundancies are needed, but I believe there should be some way of compelling it to go before the Workplace Relations Commission to justify what it is looking for. It should be required to enter into meaningful negotiations. It is outrageous that these people are protesting out on the street today. I ask the Leader to address this issue with the relevant Minister.