Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo colleagues in terms of the importance of recognising that competition law cannot be used to undermine workers' rights, our obligations under the ILO, and, as Senator Bacik ably outlined, the ECJ ruling. The ECJ has a wide definition of what might not be considered to be genuine self-employment where workers are under the direction of the employer as regards freedom to choose to time, place and content of work, and where they are an integral economic unit of the employer's undertaking. Large numbers of those we have been speaking about fall under that definition. They are workers, not undertakings, and though they may not be classed as employees currently, they often work for only one employer or a limited pool of employers with those employers having the capacity to organise, set new trends and conditions and introduce new practices, as was the case with the increased use of if and when contracts. It is important to have a counterbalance that recognises that.

I also recognise, however, that many employers, including the IAPF, were happy to work with the collective bargaining principle in the past.Within industry there are many who would welcome the return of these collective bargaining principles in terms of a uniformity of standard. I would like to hear the outline of the proposed amendment to section 2. In my mind, it is a strong section which would stand the test of the European court and our International Labour Office, ILO, obligations.