Senator Gerard Craughwell - speech from 27 Nov 2019

Minister, I'd like to welcome you to the House and I want to congratulate Senator Nash on his tireless work on behalf of workers. Indeed, in his last role as Minister here he was very proactive in bringing forward legislation. His commitment to the workers of this country is beyond question and really we're privileged to have people like him who are looking after the less well-off and one of the downsides of I suppose our growing economy over the years has been a fall-off in trade union membership and I think it's particularly sad that nowadays we find, I was talking to a woman only yesterday who was made unemployed a couple of weeks ago and she tells me the type of contracts that she's been offered now are four-hour contracts with the possibility of it rising to 20 over a week. So the casualisation of labour is something that has become a real concern to any of us that are involved or have been involved in the labour movement and I want to acknowledge the representative from SIP2, IC2 and the IBEC people if they're listening as well. I think there's something for them to learn. I think there's something for all of us to learn here. This much needed reform, the joint labour committee system which will give new powers to the labour court to set binding rates of pay above the national minimum wage. As we know workers in sectors such as hotel and catering continue to be severely disadvantaged where employer representative bodies refuse to engage in long established JLC process. In a time of full employment and high economic growth, it comes as no surprise to many that almost a quarter of Irish workers are on low pay and thus only the contract cleaning and security sectors are covered by an employment regulation order. The pothole in the existing law which effectively allows employer bodies to veto JLCs in the other low paid sectors means that the objectives of the Industrial Relations Act 2012 are effectively stymied. The great strength of this bill is that it will give employer bodies two choices to either engage in the JLC process and work with unions to agree rates of pay and terms of work for their sector or alternatively have a solution imposed on them by the Labour Court and the Oireachtas. This will honour the intentions of the 2012 Act and give protection to the most vulnerable workers in our society. It will also offer security to employers in the retention of staff and planning for future growth. Pay rates should never be erased to the bottom. Now I fully support this bill and I support what Senator Nash is trying to do here. Only recently we had to bring legislation into the House to protect the tips that are given to the most lowly paid people. And my colleague Senator Battschick adverted to the university students. I've been contacted by the university's representative bodies. And these are young people who are struggling to make ends meet as they pay their way through college. And they're being paid pittance. And up until recently their tips were being taken off them by unscrupulous employers. I'm not saying all employers are unscrupulous but there are a significant number of fly-by-night people out there. And what we're trying to do here is to ensure that people who give their labour are paid a proper wage, are looked after, that they have recourse to an organisation like the Labour Court where they are being ill-treated. I would, at this stage, I would implore people who are involved in these areas to join a union. There is only one protection for workers and that is under the flag of your union. The union is there to support you, to help you, to be at your back when things go wrong. And that should be something we should be instilling into children in secondary school as they go through the education system. The value of trade unions, we have lost that value. Somewhere along the line we have lost that value. My father, God be good to him, was a member of the plumbers' union. And, you know, when I think back on the days he worked, my father worked 42 years without ever missing a day. Without ever missing a day. 42 years for one company. And his pension, £15 a month. And we complained for him. For 15 years we wrote constantly to the pension board and told them that they had done him out of his pension. That he was entitled to more. Because had he retired a year later he would have got a lump sum and a pension of £100 a month. And in the end they wrote back to us and said, you know what, we miscalculated it. And we thought, happy days, miscalculated it by 75 pence. And he got £15.75. So without the trade union movement, that's what can happen. Because the trade union did not have the power in that company to drive it. So we need trade unions. We need young people to join trade unions. There is nothing to be lost by being a member of a trade union. We need decent legislators, like Jed Nash, to bring forward legislation that there is no local benefit for in this. This is national legislation which will benefit every young worker. And I would ask the government, set aside any reservations you may have, accept this bill and drive it on. Let's drive it on and let's make life better for particularly the young people and the most vulnerable who are out there slaving. And they are slaving long hours at very, very minimal wage just to keep themselves in body and soul. That is no way for people to live. So I thank Jed Nash, I thank SIPTU and I commend you for your lobbying. Thank God you're there. That's all I can say and the same goes with ICTU. So I leave it at that and I look forward to the Minister's response. Thanks very much, Senator Crackwell.