Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I speak in support of the motion put forward by the Labour Party group and specifically my colleagues, Senators Nash and Ó Ríordáin. I commend them for their effort and specifically Senator Nash on his time as Minister of State dealing with industrial relations and innovation. I am delighted and thank Senator Craughwell and others, including Senator Feighan, for their support. We all accept the need for a restoration of public subsidy to Dublin Bus, and this is a core part of the Labour Party motion. We all hope there will be a successful outcome to the Workplace Relations Commission talks under way. As my colleagues have said, the Labour Party supports the Dublin Bus workers. Those are all a given and I am disappointed to hear Sinn Féin Members speaking against the motion. I do not really see the point of their amendment.

We need to work together to tackle a number of different issues that have come to the fore as a result of the Dublin Bus and other disputes. These are issues around enforced flexibility, as the recent Think-tank for Action on Social Change, TASC, report calls it. It indicates we are looking at an increasing precariat or group of workers with very little employment security and who often work very uncertain hours. It is with this in mind that we brought forward legislation like the Competition (Amendment) Bill, which has seen support from all sides of the House. I should have welcomed the Minister to the House and I am delighted she is supporting that Bill. We look forward to getting her amendments very shortly; I hope they will come in the next two weeks so we can move forward and ensure collective bargaining rights for freelance workers in the arts. As the Minister is aware, Senator Nash will present a Bill we published on uncertain hours to the Seanad very shortly. Again, we seek to ensure greater employment security for workers through that Bill. It is in the spirit of these progressive reforms that we are bringing forward this motion.

The model being brought forward is an employer-labour conference that will complement rather than supplant the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. We are all conscious that the WRC intervenes in disputes, meaning it is firefighting and trying to resolve industrial disputes as they arise. The model we are putting forward, as Senator Nash has explained, is at the core of industrial relations models in progressive countries like Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland. It is a different and more long-standing model that would seek to address bigger industrial relations issues in context. These include Brexit, the pensions crisis and so on, as they will affect workers at all levels.

I am conscious I may have gone over my time so I will hand over to Senator Landy. I urge colleagues to support the Labour Party motion.