Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and congratulate Senator Nash on his tireless work on behalf of workers. When the Senator was a Minister of State he was very proactive in bringing forward legislation. His commitment to the workers of this country is beyond question. We are privileged to have people like him who are looking after the less well-off in society.

One of the downsides of our growing economy has been the fall-off in trade union membership. Yesterday, I spoke to a woman who was made unemployed a couple of weeks ago. She told me the contracts she is being offered are four-hour contracts with the possibility of up to 20 hours over a week. The casualisation of labour has become a real concern to those who are or have been involved in the labour movement. I acknowledge the representatives of SIPTU and ICTU who are present, as well as those of IBEC who may be watching these proceedings. There is something for them, and us all, to learn from this situation.

The Bill proposes much-needed reform of the JLC system. It would give new powers to the Labour Court to set binding rates of pay above the national minimum wage. As Senators are aware, workers in sectors such as the hotel and catering industries continue to be severely disadvantaged when employer representative bodies refuse to engage in the long-established JLC process. In a time of full employment and high economic growth, it will come as no surprise to many that almost a quarter of Irish workers are on low pay and that only the contract cleaning and security sectors are covered by an employment regulation order. The loophole in the law which effectively allows employer bodies to veto JLCs in the other low-pay sectors stymies the objectives of the Industrial Relations Act 2012. The great strength of the Bill is that it will force employer bodies to choose whether to engage in the JLC process and work with unions to agree rates of pay and terms of work for their sector or to have a solution imposed on them by the Labour Court and Oireachtas. This would honour the intentions of the 2012 Act and give protection to the most vulnerable workers in our society. It would also offer security to employers in respect of the retention of staff and planning for future growth.

Pay rates should never be a race to the bottom. I fully support the Bill and what Senator Nash is trying to achieve. I and other Senators recently introduced legislation to protect the tips of the lowest paid workers. My colleague, Senator Bacik, referred to university students. I have been contacted by university representative bodies. These young people who are struggling to make ends meet as they pay their way through college are being paid a pittance and, until recently, their tips were being taken from them by unscrupulous employers. Not all employers are unscrupulous, but there is a significant number of fly-by-night employers. We are trying to ensure that people are paid a proper wage for their labour, are looked after and have recourse to an organisation such as the Labour Court if they are ill-treated.

I implore workers to join a union. The only protection they have is under the flag of their union. A union is there to support workers and to be at their back when things go wrong. We should instil the value of trade unions in children as they go through the secondary education system. Somewhere along the line, we have lost the recognition of that value. My father, God be good to him, was a member of the plumbers' union. He worked for a company for 42 years without missing a day. He got a pension of IR£15 a month. I and others complained on his behalf. For 15 years, we constantly wrote to the pension board and told it the company had done him out of his pension and that he was entitled to more because if he had retired a year later, he would have received a lump sum and a pension of IR£100 a month. In the end, the pension board told us it had miscalculated his pension. "Happy days", we thought. It then clarified that it had miscalculated by 75 pence. He got a pension of IR£15.75. That is what can happen without the trade union movement. The trade union did not have the power in that company to pursue his cause.

We need trade unions. We need young people to join them. There is nothing to be lost from being a member of a trade union. We need decent legislators such as Senator Nash to bring forward legislation that is of national rather than local benefit and which will benefit every young worker. I ask the Government to set aside any reservations it may have, accept the Bill and drive it on. We must drive it on to make life better for workers, particularly the young and the most vulnerable who are slaving long hours on minimal wages to keep body and soul together. That is no way for people to live. I thank Senator Nash. I commend SIPTU on its lobbying. Thank God for it and ICTU. I look forward to the response of the Minister of State.