Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to see Senator McGreehan in the Chair and to have the Minister of State, Deputy English, in the House. On behalf of Sinn Féin, I welcome this motion. There are lots of positive messages around remote working that we fully support. Like my colleague from the Labour Party, however, I am concerned about the aspirational nature of much of what is proposed as opposed to there being nuts-and-bolts provisions in terms of protections for workers. I will deal with that point presently.

As we all know, when the pandemic struck, there was a sudden shift to working from home, which fully awakened people to the possibilities in terms of remote working. While it has been a difficult experience for some people, it is fair to say that, for the majority, it has been quite positive. We need to build on that. The national strategy has the potential to do so, but we need to ensure that workers' rights are protected. I see this motion as one that falls within the frame of workers' rights. Unfortunately, I am sorry to say that, as I will outline, Fine Gael does not have the best of records when it comes to workers' rights. For example, we are one of the few countries in Europe that does not have collective bargaining rights.

In terms of the various issues that have been raised so far, I share the concerns around a code of practice in regard to the right to disconnect. That right is absolutely fundamental to this issue. Working from home is only a benefit if one can save time, including travel time, and get to spend more time at home. As someone who has practised industrial relations for well over a decade, I have to say that codes of practice do not work. In fact, when I hear the words "code of practice", I think of Captain Jack Sparrow and the pirates' code, which, if Senators remember, turned out to be just guidelines as opposed to an actual code. We need legal protections, not just good wishes. That is why this conversation is welcome. Now is the opportunity for Fine Gael to acknowledge that a code of practice is not enough and to ensure there are legal protections in terms of the right to disconnect.

Other speakers mentioned the tax issues. I hope we would all agree that the €3.20 allowance per day is not enough and we need to do more in that respect. It should have been done in the last budget but if we can get a firm commitment from the Minister of State that something will happen in the coming budget, I would welcome that.

We need to ensure that workers are not taken advantage of when it comes to home working and that they are not expected to work more hours. For instance, how will the 48-hour working rule be policed when people are working from home? That needs to be teased out. The savings that companies are making, as referred to by other speakers, should be passed on to the workers. Surely that is the best benefit workers can get out of home working? There are massive savings for employers in terms of property costs and so forth. We need to ensure those costs are not transferred to the workers.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, has had a lot to say on this issue. I urge Senator Currie and her colleagues in Fine Gael to look at its statements. I am surprised that in a 410-word motion, there is not one mention of the views of trade unions on what is, as we have agreed, a workers' rights topic. Again, there is an opportunity now to go back and look at those statements and consider the urgings of the ICTU, in particular, in regard to tax and the right to disconnect.

The most fundamental protection one can give workers working from home is the right to collective bargaining. In this regard, I must point out that, just last week, the Tánaiste aligned himself with the leaders of Hungary and Poland to block an EU directive that would have extended collective bargaining rights to workers in this State. How does that stand with the Government's position in the area of workers' rights? My union, SIPTU, was absolutely outraged by it. My colleague, the deputy general secretary, Gerry McCormack, said: "The Minister, Leo Varadkar, knows that if the proposals from the EU are just recommendations, they will be absolutely useless for workers in Ireland." The Tánaiste is saying that he does not want the directive to be legally binding; he wants it to be watered down to a recommendation.Mr. McCormack added: "The three parties in government have a track record of supporting employers' interests above those of workers and this is just another disgraceful example of this." That happened last week, and it was Senator Currie's leader who aligned himself with the leaders of Hungary and Poland. I find that more than just disappointing. How can we talk about workers' rights and improving rights for workers at home when the Government went out of its way last week to water down a key EU directive, the minimum wage directive, which also deals with collective bargaining and would have required the governments to work towards 70% coverage of collective bargaining? If workers do not have the right to decent union representation or the right to stand together, in particular when they are working on their own at home, what rights do they have? They are, in effect, at the mercy of employers.

The fact is that this Government has chosen in the past week to take that stand. As a member of the Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment I am especially upset about this because we met with the Department only a couple of weeks ago and we discussed this directive and got legal advice on it. We were told there was no problem with the directive going forward. No one from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment said to us that Ireland would align itself with Hungary and Poland to make sure that collective bargaining does not get strengthened in the legislation. That is what the Government did, and that is the most disappointing aspect. Fine Gael Senators have plenty of good ideas, but they have been let down by their leader and their party. We should see much better from this Government. If we are going to start with rights for workers working from home, let us start with collective bargaining rights. Let us see something concrete done on that. I urge those in Fianna Fáil and the Green Party to raise their voices at this stage if they believe in workers' rights at all.