Seanad debates

Wednesday, 4 December 2019

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Paul GavanPaul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a serious issue today. It is one on which I would hope to gain all-party support, namely, the continuing plight of the secretarial assistants who work for each and every one of us in the Seanad. I was shocked to find out when I came here three and a half years ago that their starting salary was as low as €23,000.That equates to €428 a week which is a pretty abysmal salary. They are represented by my union, SIPTU, which put in a pay claim over a year ago that has sat in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and no progress is being made.

I speak on behalf the staff whom I know, but I suspect it must apply to all of the staff, are an exceptional body of people who work extremely hard. They do, effectively, the same job as personal assistants in the Dáil, by writing speeches, researching and fact-finding. They have not had a pay increase since 2002. Is that not shocking? It is behoves all of us to respect these people and demand action from this Government. I am saying this in a non-party political way because it is in the interests of the Seanad that we pay people properly. To be quite clear, these secretarial assistants are not being paid properly at all; they are being paid poorly. I call on the Minister for Finance to come into the Chamber to debate this issue and I ask the Leader to support this request. This should not be a secondary issue that we put on the back burner. We are all guilty of putting this on the back burner for too long, and I include myself in that.

As a union activist, if I was in their shoes, I would make sure I was a member of the union because SIPTU has negotiating rights. Moreover, if I did not see progress in the coming weeks, I would ballot for industrial action. One action that would grab the Minister for Finance's attention would be a picket line outside the Oireachtas and I would stand with our staff. It should not have to come to that. These are young professionals who work hard. At the moment, they have to do eight hours overtime just to try to make ends meet. A living wage in Dublin is €500 a week and these people are earning €50 less than that each week.

I propose that the Houses of the Oireachtas should be a living wage employer and I hope that is something for which we can have all-party support so that anyone working in these buildings, whether they are cleaning, doing professional work or working in the canteen, can at least earn a living wage. That should be a value to which all of us subscribe. I ask colleagues to join together and support our secretarial staff and make sure they get the pay rise for which they have been waiting, in some cases, for 15 years.

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