Address by Minister Tony Killeen on Private Members Motion

(Workers Rights)

Dail Eireann - Tuesday 21^st February 2006

A Cathaoirleach, I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak to the House this evening. I wish, also, to propose a counter motion as follows:

"Dáil Éireann welcomes:

1 The commitment of the Government to uphold the rights of workers, which are set out in Irish labour law. These rights include:

• statutory rates of pay
• limitations on hours worked
• health and safety provisions
• statutory redundancy
• carers, maternity and adoptive leave;

2. The record of this Government in introducing a comprehensive range of legislative and other measures which are aimed at and have significantly improved the terms and conditions available to workers in the Irish labour market, including: health & safety, part-time and fixed-term workers, national minimum wage levels, substantial increases in redundancy entitlements and improvements for carers and parents;

3 Measures taken by this Government to improve compliance by a minority of employers who fail to fulfil their statutory obligations to their workers. These measures include

• a substantial increase in the number of Labour Inspectors and
• active engagement with the Social Partners to agree significant improvements to the regime for employment rights compliance;

4 The fact that the interests of both employers and employees are overseen by a single Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment since enterprise and employment policies are complementary and not in competition with each other, and notes that it is only by growing our competitiveness, increasing our trade performance and expanding enterprise development that this Government in particular has produced sustainable high quality jobs while simultaneously ensuring that Ireland has a well-trained and confident workforce, which enjoys the protection of our Health and Safety and Employment Rights legislation;

5 The efforts of this Government to promote the training and retraining of those in employment in the context of life long learning through its One Step Up and other initiatives;

6 The commitment of this Government to uphold Irish and EU law and wider international conventions, where these are consistent with our EU obligations and with our social and economic objectives;

7 The Government's commitment to the Social Partnership Model as the most appropriate mechanism for advancing these issues in the interests of both employees and employers."

As Minister for Labour Affairs I am acutely aware of the deep and unwavering commitment of this Government, in the area of employment rights provision as evidenced by the various actions and the legislative progress achieved over the last eight years. Particular highlights would be the introduction of the national minimum wage in 2000, implementation of the fixed-term work provisions and the recent further strengthening of the Labour Inspectorate. The latter is an issue to which I will return later because I believe that we are moving ever closer to a situation where some novel and innovative thinking is presenting us with options that will underpin a newly energised, modernised and formidable compliance model that will be more effective and efficient than current practice.

Our national minimum wage is the second highest in the EUOther protections and entitlements are provided for in legislation focused on Equality, Health and Safety, Working Time, Redundancy, Maternity, Parenting and Caring. This is a vast body of work and certainly, in my view cannot, by any stretch of the imagination be characterised as being reflective of a nation that does not protect and promote the rights of its workers, determine fair remuneration for a decent standard of living and uphold the principle of equal pay for equal work.

We are sometimes asked to react as if there were no social and employment protection framework in place in this State. This is clearly not the case as the impact of the body of legislation and the quality of our employment rights institutions refute any such assertion. The challenge in a rapidly growing economy is to ensure that there is adequate, timely and effective enforcement of compliance with the statutory provisions now in place.

The Carer’s Leave Act 2001 came into operation on July 2^nd. 2001. The main purpose of the Act is to provide for an entitlement for employees to avail of up to 65 weeks’ unpaid leave from their employment to enable them to care personally for individuals who require full-time care and attention. This maximum entitlement will shortly be extended to 104 weeks. The Act fulfilled the Government commitment in Budget 2000, and in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, that legislation would be introduced to give effect to a Carer’s Benefit payment and a parallel right to Carer’s Leave.

The Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 came into operation in full on December 20^th. 2001. The Act outlaws discrimination against part-time workers vis-à-vis comparable full-time workers on the ground of their part-time status. In line with the Government’s commitments in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, the Act includes pay and pensions as part of the conditions of employment for part-time employees. These provisions also apply to posted workers.

Thus a person, irrespective of nationality or place of residence, who works in the State under a contract of employment, has the same rights under Irish employment rights legislation as Irish employees.

The Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 came into operation on July 14^th. 2003. The Act provides for the improvement of the quality of fixed-term work by ensuring the application of the principle of non-discrimination.

A number of Statutory Instruments relating to various areas of employment rights legislation have also made over recent years:

The Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings Regulations came into effect from April 11^th. 2003 and implemented the mandatory provisions of the relevant EU Directive. The Regulations are aimed at protecting the rights of employees arising from an employment contract in the event of a transfer of a business or part of a business, in which they are employed, which entails a change of employer. Complaints that an employer has contravened these Regulations may, generally, be referred in the first instance to a Rights Commissioner and, on appeal, to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

A total of five Statutory Instruments under the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1996 relating to the employment rights of young persons have been made over the lifetime of this and the immediately previous Administration. Young Persons, in this context are 16 and 17 year olds. In addition, the Department facilitated the drawing up of a Code of Practice under the above Act concerning the Employment of Young Persons in Licensed Premises.

The main purpose of the Code of Practice is to set out for the guidance of employers and employees the duties and responsibilities (including statutory obligations) in relation to the employment of young persons on general duties in licensed premises. The Code of Practice covers 16 and 17 year olds, including all second level students (excluding bar apprentices in the licensed trade) who are employed at any time in licensed premises be it summer, other holidays or part-time work.

Again, covering the period from 1997 on, this Government together with the previous Administration, made a total of eighteen Statutory Instruments under the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 relating to maximum weekly working hours; minimum daily and weekly rest periods; rest intervals at work and public holiday entitlements of employees.

I turn now to the area of redundancy payments. Notwithstanding the exceptional economic success that is our economy at present, we are ever vulnerable to global pressures on manufacturing and services activities. Some companies can no longer survive in this environment and they continue to close; other companies survive by means of market diversification, technology and downsizing. Our improved redundancy legislation, benefits and service go some way to alleviate the immediate impact.

Extensive work has gone into improving the service side of processing redundancy application and payments. The Redundancy Review Group, consisting of representatives of the Social Partners and Government, produced a comprehensive report in July 2002 on how best to simplify the Redundancy Payments System. It proposed amending legislation, and commissioning of a new e-Gov. based IT System.

The Redundancy Payments Act, 2003 was enacted in May 2003 and represents the most radical change to the Redundancy Payments Scheme since the original Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 which started the Scheme. The 2003 Act provided the legislative framework for the significantly enhanced level of statutory redundancy payments of two weeks pay per year of service, plus a bonus week, agreed by the Social Partners and Government under “Sustaining Progress”. The old payment level had been restricted to half a weeks pay for every year of service up to the age of 41 years and a weeks pay for every year over 41 years (together with a bonus week).

The 2003 Act also provided the legal basis for the new on-line Redundancy Payments IT System. Following agreement at the second phase of “Sustaining Progress” the enhanced payments level was further increased on January 1^st. 2005 by an up-ward revision of the “ceiling” on weekly pay for redundancy calculation purposes from €507.90 to €600.

The Minister for Justice Equality and Law Reform has published Orders extending the periods of leave available under the Maternity Protection Act 1994 and the Adoptive Leave Act 1995. Both Orders are effective from March 1^st. 2006. While these enactments fall outside the remit of my Department it is no less indicative of this Government’s positive attitude to the broad spectrum of employment rights issues, including the wider family friendly/work-life balance concerns.

I wish to refer now to the Department’s employment rights related functions that relate to the International Labour Organisation. Since 1997, Ireland has continued to be represented at the annual International Labour Conference by a tripartite delegation, representing the Government, Trade Unions and Employers. Ireland takes a vigorous stance in relation to its membership of the ILO. In particular, as EU Presidency, Ireland co-ordinated the EU’s position on the various agenda items at the 92^nd Session of the Conference in June 2004.

During this period, Ireland continued to report annually, in accordance with the provisions of the ILO Constitution, on the various ILO Conventions ratified by Ireland since joining the ILO in 1923. Since 1997, a total of eight ILO Conventions were ratified by Ireland. In 2005, Ireland was honoured to be elevated to the Governing Body of the ILO – only the third time since 1923.

Ireland has continued to report regularly on how it implements the Council of Europe’s 1961 Social Charter and Revised Social Charter and to answer questions at the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter on its Reports. A total of seven such Reports on how we implement the European Social Charters were submitted since 1997. These are the subject of detailed discussions at meetings of the Governmental Committee of the European Social Charter which meets three times per annum.

The enforcement of Employment Rights is too often characterised as a discrete function undertaken solely by the Labour Inspectorate. The reality is that there is a very formidable corpus of legislation that provides for a range of obligations and entitlements for both employers and employees. The employment rights arena is populated by various bodies, for example, the Labour Court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal and the Rights Commissioner Service to name just a few, each charged with the task of administering that considerable volume of employment law.

As always there is scope for improvement but it is no solution to just simply appoint hundreds of Labour Inspectors. Additional Labour Inspectors were appointed and since November 2005 there are now thirty-one Officers serving in the position of Labour Inspector. This represents almost a doubling of the number of Labour Inspectors in recent months. However, the real challenge for us in this dynamic workplace is to ensure that there is adequate, timely and effective enforcement of compliance with the statutory and other provisions already established. The Government gave recognition to this approach in ‘Sustaining Progress’ and arising from those commitments has completed reviews of:

• the Employment Rights Bodies
• the Mandate and Resourcing of the Labour Inspectorate
• the Joint Labour Committee System

The Government has established the Employment Rights Group, a group in which the Social Partners and the Employment Rights Bodies participate, to oversee the development of proposals for Government for a simplified body of employment rights legislation. The Group also guides and drives the implementation of Government’s decisions on the role and functions of the employment rights bodies themselves so as to ensure user-friendly and simplified complaint, appeal and enforcement procedures are put in place - with all cases being dealt with initially by Rights Commissioners and only by the Employment Appeals Tribunal on appeal.

In accordance with the commitment in Sustaining Progress, the Government also completed a review of the Mandate and Resourcing of the Labour Inspectorate. That Review, which was not prescriptive, presented the arguments for and against an extensive range of issues impacting on the Labour Inspectorate. It was circulated to the Social Partners in January 2005. Last September, having obtained the views of the Social Partners, the Government established the Employment Rights Compliance Group, to follow up that earlier work.

• A streamlining of access to redress through the existing Employment Rights Bodies thus enabling individuals with the information and facility to more easily vindicate their employment rights and entitlements
• Greater emphasis on proper record keeping together with increased transparency regarding pay and the associated information provided to employees on payslips
• Organisational improvements in the service provided by the Employment Rights Compliance Section of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment –including the Labour Inspectorate {including a regionalised structure}
• Major investment in Education and Information Dissemination on employment rights obligations and entitlements for both employers and employees.

In addition, the implications of a new Employment Rights Compliance Model, involving a re-orientation of employment rights procedures away from the Civil Courts towards the Rights Commissioner Service, were teased out. The Government welcomes the good work completed by the ERCG and notes that the current Social Partnership talks are tasked with the objective of deciding the final shape of the future Compliance Model and the organisational restructuring that may be required as a consequence.

For about five years now employment rights literature has been available in nine different languages which are distributed not only through the work permit system but also through embassies in Ireland as well as through Citizen Information Centres and other outlets. This has been followed up by a pilot scheme, currently underway, whereby classes in basic employment rights are given to migrant workers in their own language and in this I must commend ICTU for their initiative and signal that I would endorse greater support for the Social Partners, and other key players, for educational and promotional purposes. I anticipate development in this respect once the outcomes of current Social Partnership discussions have been concluded.

Many workers from overseas work in sectors which are covered by the Joint Labour Committee System where their terms and conditions are negotiated and agreed by the Social Partners within the framework of the JLC system. The resulting agreements become Employment Regulation Orders once cleared by the Labour Court and are enforceable through the Labour Inspectorate or, in certain respects, directly with the employment rights bodies themselves. This is a robust approach, which has worked well for many years.

However, again as part of Sustaining Progress, the Government undertook a review of the JLC system by outside consultants. On completion of that exercise the Government entered into consultations with the Social Partners with a view to developing proposals to further refine the system. These proposals will feature in the current Social Partnership negotiations.

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 which came into effect on September 1^st. 2005 is a major piece of new legislation in the area of safety and health in the workplace. The primary focus of this Act is on the prevention of deaths and injuries in the workplace. Safety at Work is paramount and it is most disquieting to see the statistics which have emerged in regard to fatalities over the past years. This Act is a serious wake-up call to employers who don't do enough to prevent accidents at their places of employment. Workers also have a duty not to endanger themselves or others and to be alert to dangerous situations.

This Act marks a new era in workplace health and safety. It sets out to shift the focus away from viewing health and safety as an add-on but to integrate it into a management system. It involves both workers and employers working together to achieve a safer and healthier work environment.

The HSA is committed to engaging in a process of consultation with key players to make it user friendly to employers and workers, especially those in small companies.

One of the innovations in the Act is the power to make regulations for the imposition of on-the-spot fines for breaches of the health and safety code. I have asked the Board of the HSA to undertake consultations and to come back to me with recommendations on what are considered to be the appropriate areas for the levying of on-the-spot fines. The Act places duties on both employers and workers alike and I envisage that the on-the-spot fines will apply to both, where a HSA inspector finds clear breaches of the health and safety code.

The HSA is empowered under the Act to compile and publish a list of the names and addresses of businesses where a fine has been imposed by a court, a prohibition notice served by the HSA or where a court has made an interim or interlocutory order. This is an important step in the direction of the public's right to know.

There is also protection in the Act for employees against dismissal or penalisation for carrying out their duty in regard to safety matters. Where an employee is victimised or otherwise penalised for their legitimate health and safety activities the Act provides for redress. An employee is entitled to appeal to a Rights Commissioner for a determination. In the event of a further appeal, this can be heard by the Labour Court.

I turn now to the issue of Life-Long Learning and training. I believe that Ireland can best foster social inclusion by promoting an environment where sustainable employment is available for all job seekers. Our job creation record over the lifetime of this Government has been the envy of our European partners and we now have the lowest unemployment rate in Europe. There are now nearly 2 million people working in our economy compared to 1,468,000 when we came into office in 1997. So we have created over 500,000 new jobs.

Sustaining our employment, particularly in the increasingly knowledge-based environment in which we now compete, means that Ireland needs a workforce with higher-level skills.

Ireland is not alone in facing this requirement to upskill. Throughout the European Union, Lifelong Learning is important in the context of economic and social change in Europe, the rapid evolution of the knowledge society, and demographic pressures resulting from an ageing population. The EU Lisbon Agenda aims to make the EU the most competitive and knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.

Ireland has a long tradition of training people for entry into the labour market and we are close to EU averages in investment levels in this area. Government has increased resources allocated to training people for employment consistently over recent years. This year FÁS will invest nearly €250 million in this area, up from €230 million in 2005. The Department of Education and Science are also increasing their investments in the area of Further and Adult Education. This will rise to approximately €146 million in 2006, an increase of €8 million on 2005 and will provide for an expansion on existing services in the sector in the coming year.

Increased funds have in recent years been provided to a number of programmes to support the One Step Up Initiative through the training of those in employment. These include FÁS training initiatives for the employed, which have benefited from substantial increases in investment since 2004, when annual allocation rose from €8 million to the current annual levels of €35.6 million. This funding is allowing FÁS expand its existing Competency Development Programme.

It is also funding strategic alliances with the private sector in a new programme that saw FÁS commit €19 million in 2005 to 15 projects. These projects attracted a further €6 million private sector funding and will see nearly 19,000 trainees benefiting from training that will focus on three key categories: basic skills provision for low skilled employees; occupationally-specific upskilling for staff in certain sectors; and management and entrepreneurial development. FÁS will be seeking further proposals for investment under this initiative later this year.

Skillnets Services Limited is also receiving funds from the Department to manage a networking programme that involves about one hundred companies. It addresses general training needs, as well of those of particular economic sectors. The public budget for this training in 2005 was €7.5 million and, when allied to matching funds provided by the employers, total funding available is significantly more. This year this budget is being increased to €8.5 million, and it will further increase to €10 million in the years up to 2010.

Skillnets is also managing the ACCEL (Accelerated In-company skills) initiative on behalf of my Department. This has a public budget of €16 million over the next two years. To date, twenty-five companies successfully bid for €9 million in grants in the first call from proposals in 2005. These projects are starting up now and it is expected that 20,000 employees from over 2,000 companies will benefit from this training. ACCEL has launched a second call for proposals in 2006.

Enterprise Ireland is also providing in-company training. Twenty projects have been funded under its auspices since 2004. A total of about €6 million has been provided and the programme will run into 2007.

In addition to the above initiatives, specific funding has been made available from the National Training Fund for dedicated training purposes. This includes support for the continuing professional development of engineers, for promotion and training in the ICT sector and for developing the range of skills required to work to greatest effect in the community and voluntary sector.

In summary, there has never been such a concentration of public funds devoted to training and skills development and this Government can be proud of its achievements to date.

I now propose to move on to Social Partnership and I am sure this House will agree that no Government other than this and the previous one led by an Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has been more committed to the Social Partnership process. No other Government has been prepared to utilise Social Partnership to the maximum in seeking to advance the social and economic objectives to which we all aspire. I want to show to this House how the Government and the Social Partners can work together to propose, negotiate and develop practical and achievable improvements in our workplaces, as well as the attainment of a fair and inclusive society. These are challenges, which the Government set for itself in its Programme for Government. The Government is proud of its achievements and can point to commitments delivered and progress made in the Social Partnership process.

The Social Partnership process is accepted by all in this House, and by many countries and commentators overseas, as being a major contributor to the attainment of our societal goals. This is how it should be, as it is an inclusive process that gives a voice and role to many constituencies – none more so than unions and employers, together with the farming sector and the community and the voluntary grouping.

The scene has been set, the negotiations ate under way, and as the Taoiseach has already made clear, the Government will not be found wanting in contributing to the negotiations and in contributing to the attainment of an agreement.

It is entirely appropriate that the Social Partners play an important role in the evolution and development of employment rights. It has been the practice of this Government that legislative proposals, the transposition of EU Directives or reviews of legislation or processes are conducted against a background of consultation with the Social Partners. The development of employment and workplace entitlements always feature in the Social Partnership discussions and Agreements and has over recent times led to legislation, increased entitlements and additional resources towards enforcement.

As stated in the Government counter-motion, the Government is committed to the Social Partnership Model as the most appropriate mechanism for advancing the interests of both employers and employees. I am confident that the outcomes will include a meaningful package in the area of employment rights standards, education, promotion, compliance and enforcement, as well as a range of other priorities which will be identified and developed in a fashion that will embrace the demands and concerns of all parties.

Despite the magnificent performance of our economy and our unprecedented levels of employment the successful blending of labour and enterprise, as manifested in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is questioned in the Motion. It is irrefutable that our economy has been performing extremely well for the period of office of this and the immediately previous Administration. The image of our airports and seaports thronged with our young people emigrating across the globe, because of the lack of opportunity here at home, is a fading memory. Social Partnership, underpinned by strong Government commitment and a genuine willingness by all concerned to identify the areas of complementarity and consensus between employers and employees, has in no small way contributed to that very positive outcome and the success we experience today. That focus on complementarity is reflected also in the ethos and functions of the Department where enterprise and employment policies are seen as complementary and not in competition with each other.

Before I say any more on the topic I believe it would be useful and informative to set out a brief history of the key events leading to the establishment of my Department. Under the first and second Dáil – 1919-1922 – Ireland was served by a specifically titled Minister for Labour (in the persons of Countess Markievicz and Joseph McGrath). The Ministry of Labour was amalgamated with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in September 1922. In July 1966, Patrick Hillery was appointed Minister for Labour by the then Fianna Fáil Government. A separate Department of Labour continued in existence until 1993 when the then Fianna Fail/Labour Partnership Government appointed Mervyn Taylor as Minister for Equality and Law Reform – the responsibilities of the Department of Labour being split between that Department and the new Department of Enterprise and Employment. Mr. Rúairí Quinn was appointed Minister for Enterprise and Employment, and his team included a Minister of State with specific responsibility for Labour Affairs and one for Commerce and Technology.

This arrangement was continued under the Rainbow Coalition Government of 1995. The subsequent 1997 Fianna Fáil/PD Coalition Government decided to merge the Department of Equality and Law Reform with the Department of Justice and to merge the Trade portfolio with the Department of Enterprise and Employment, to make it Enterprise, Trade and Employment and this arrangement has continued since.

In tracking the economic and labour force changes over the years since Enterprise and Employment were merged (with the addition of Trade in 1997), it is quite clear that the arrangement has worked very well. Unemployment rates are down from 1993 levels of 15.7% overall to 4.4% today, with long-term unemployment at just 1.4% compared to almost 9% back in 1993. Over the same period, the labour force grew by 43% from 1.4 million in 1993 to just 2 million today.

The bringing together under one Minister of the interests of both employers and employees is clearly in keeping with the Partnership approach to decision-making and policy-making and no clear argument has to date been advanced as to why this should be changed.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is structured in a way which recognises that enterprise and employment are not competing but, in fact, complementary factors.

I believe that it is only by growing our competitiveness, by increasing our trade performance, and by expanding enterprise performance that we can produce sustainable high quality jobs. Similarly, only by ensuring that we have a well-trained and confident workforce, that enjoys the protection of our Health and Safety and Employment Rights legislation, can enterprise flourish.

Since 1993, when the Department was established in its current formation, we have seen jobs and real wages growing at unprecedented levels, we have introduced the national minimum wage and seen a significant improvement in the legislative framework protecting workers. The welfare of workers, especially those most exposed to low incomes, has been transformed during this period. But this has also helped sustain, and been sustained by, a parallel and unprecedented improvement in trade and enterprise performance. Evidence, therefore, that our pro-enterprise and pro-jobs policies have made a real difference is incontrovertible.

While the factors supporting this transformation are many, and Social Partnership clearly played its part, it is clear that the current configuration of this Department is right for Ireland, and Government, following the last election, reaffirmed this.

I have put the Government’s case to this House. The Government is proud of its achievements in promoting economic growth, leading to a large increase in employment and resulting in higher standards for all workers. We are not resting on our laurels however, and I have outlined to the House our plans for improving the regime of Employment Rights Compliance and increasing the quality of the workplace.

I commend the Government’s counter-motion to this House.