Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the four Dublin MEPs for being here today. As has been said, it is very important to have this interaction and to better understand the work they are doing on behalf of this city and county. I was struck by Mr. Cuffe's statement that the Green New Deal forms a major part of the focus of the work of the Parliament at the moment, which is very true. The equality agenda has also been a major part of that work; Ms Fitzgerald touched on that.

My comments will focus on the Parliament's workers' rights agenda and work in that area. Any of us who are familiar with the history of workers' rights in this country will know that the EU has been the genesis and impetus for many of the rights in respect of equal pay, equal status, working conditions, health and safety, posted workers, temporary agency workers and so forth. While many of us with a real interest in workers' rights over the past decade may have despaired at the lack of progress in this country over many years, we have taken some heart from the very clear direction taken by the Commission, especially over the past two to three years.

I want to hear the MEPs' views, as representatives of the city and county, and the views of their respective parties within the Parliament, on their position on the proposed adequate minimum wage directive and their stance on the gender pay transparency directive. The updated European pillar of social rights action plan was published in May. We also know the Commission is signalling its intention to publish a draft directive to protect platform workers. We need to hear from the MEPs on how they intend to vote and support those initiatives, especially in respect of the adequate minimum wage draft directive. That, in truth, has the potential to be a game changer for workers in this country in terms of their ability to exercise some say on their terms and conditions. As we know, that directive does not force Ireland to introduce the right to collective bargaining, but it would potentially force us to put in place a framework to ensure that workers have that right or ability to negotiate, collectively, their terms and conditions. Ireland stands apart from most other EU member states in not having the right to be recognised for collective bargaining purposes.

Let us be clear about why that directive is so important for this country. An estimated 370,000 workers, or just under one fifth of our workforce, earn 66% of the median wage. Nearly 23% of all women are low paid. The message is to get a good education in order to get a good job and be well paid, but 13% of all graduates are classified as low paid. Across this Chamber and, no doubt, in the European Parliament, there is a lot of talk about needing to close the gender pay gap.Of course, there is no single silver bullet. While the proposals within the gender pay transparency directive are really important, the directive will only be effective if it is complemented by giving women workers that right to be able to negotiate and bargain on a collective basis because there is a growing body of research across Europe showing that the greater the levels of collective bargaining coverage, the less is the wage dispersion within companies and the less is the wage gap between men and women within those workplaces.

When we talk about the wage gap here in Ireland, all too often the figure of 14.4% is trotted out. The wage gap is actually much bigger in this country. It is 25%, in terms of the average weekly wages between men and women in this country because we have to take into account that women are discriminated against, in particular, by being trapped in low-paid part-time jobs. Of course, the pensions gap is even larger, at 28.6%.

I am conscious that the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs is due to meet next week. I understand that the co-rapporteurs from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, S&D, and the European People's Party, EPP, have done excellent work. I am concerned about some of the reports about the Renew Europe representative on that committee and that representative's position and I would like to hear, across all the parties here, what their own individual positions are and what they will do within their own party groupings in the Parliament to ensure that this important directive is passed.