Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Let us go back 100 years to the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil. We are celebrating that Dáil's centenary and we all attended grand events in this regard. The Democratic Programme refers to our industries and to ensuring their development according to the most beneficial, co-operative and industrial lines. It refers to the role of the national Government in promoting a "general and lasting improvement in the conditions under which the working classes live and labour". It is established at the foundation of the First Dáil. It is understood that one reason we have a state is so we can set standards and floors of decency. It is key.

The minimum wage is not a voluntarist measure. It was introduced to ensure decent standards, as was the case with various wage agreements that were negotiated, various processes that were brought into place, evolving workers' rights and industrial relations machinery. I include the industrial relations machinery of the Low Pay Commission, which Senator Nash introduced as Minister of State.

This is a proposal that is not at odds with our industrial relations machinery but that is for its enhancement and improvement to ensure it does what it is meant to do, which is redress what would otherwise be a completely unequal balance of power. The power relationship between an employer and one or two members of staff in a small place, or 500 members of staff in another, is not necessarily a natural and normal one. In some cases it is, but in many cases there is an imbalance of power. That is why we set standards of decency and accept what are decent terms and conditions.However, it needs to be addressed sometimes on a sectoral basis such as with the hospitality industry. It is not the case we have been standing back and seeing what might happen. The hospitality industry is one in which the State has intervened plentifully in the past. I have sat here through multiple budgets where we sustained the special VAT measure given to the hospitality industry and hotels because, as we were told by other Ministers from that same seat, this is a key, high-employment industry which must be protected. We gave it special tax relief as it is considered part of the State and having a common good function. If the hospitality sector matters, if it is one of the great values we highlight when pitching Ireland to the world on the St. Patrick's Day rounds, and if it is a higher density employment sector, we must get it right. Getting it right in hospitality means we get it right for many people. If hospitality matters, then the decency of standards in hospitality, as well as other areas such as agricultural work also matter. We have a duty to ensure we have functioning industrial relations mechanisms which do not leave it to each individual worker on a temporary contract to fight his or her own battle but we can collectively set a basic floor.

What did this mean in contract cleaning? It meant the workers were not charged for their uniforms. They got to know they would have two weeks’ holiday in the year, some predictability about their hours and sick pay. These are the real mechanisms. I have launched reports for TASC, the Think-tank for Action on Social Change, on living with uncertainty. Living with uncertainty undermines lives. Every person's life, along with the time for work and their life on this planet, matters. The decency of having terms and conditions, along with basic pay and standards, is important.

We have not seen any improvement. In fact, we have seen disimprovement. At the audiovisual room briefing recently, we heard from people who started as kitchen porters, acquired skills and worked their way up to be pastry chefs. They spoke about the new people coming into the sector who have no guarantees and where it is the luck of the draw if one happens to get a good boss for one year or six months. We should have people deciding that, as they like engaging with people and have skills they want to bring into the area, they will work in hospitality for the next 15 years. They should be allowed to plan their life and plan to have a family. They should be able to know that if they stick with an area for two years, they will move up, or if they do some training, they will get another opportunity. They must be able to look ahead.

That is what this Bill is about. It is a fundamentally basic matter. One cannot have a veto on decency in one of the crucial, high-employment sectors. Good employers should have nothing to fear. When we talk about the State washing its hands of this area, a point with which Fianna Fáil apparently agrees, we are not being neutral but subsidising bad employers. I sit on the Oireachtas committee on employment affairs and social protection and know how many people are on working family payment, formerly family income supplement. These families are on this benefit because their employers no longer feel they have to give them enough hours with enough pay to live. To keep their families fed, we subsidise them through our social welfare system. Meanwhile, good employers who pay their workers decent wages are not getting that supplement. The State is not neutral if it decides to stand back, claiming that because they did not come to the table, it does not believe it needs to address issues in the sector. We are subsidising and supporting bad practice. It is absolutely unacceptable.

I urge Fianna Fáil to consider supporting this Bill as it is important. I sit with Fianna Fáil Members on the social protection committee where we hear the testimony of families and what precarious work does to people's lives. I urge everybody to support this Bill. I hope it passes Second Stage today. I guarantee these good ideas will be coming back if it does not pass as they are necessary. I know it is not entirely within the remit of the Minister of State but I urge him not to turn a blind eye to those real people in every coffee shop, restaurant or hotel, or those workers who picked the lettuces or the mushrooms in the punnets, to be allowed to plan their lives. We must update our industrial relations machinery to ensure it is actually functioning.