PRESENTATION TO THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF JOBS, ENTERPRISE AND INNOVATION, TUESDAY, 3RD MARCH 2015

GERRY LIGHT – ASSISTANT GENERAL SECRETARY, MANDATE TRADE UNION

Firstly Chair, I would like to thank you and the Committee for your invitation to appear before you today. By way of introduction Mandate Trade Union is one of the country’s largest private sector unions representing some 45,000 workers across retail, distribution, administration and the licensed trade.Not surprisingly our membership is predominantly female who work in the main part-time hours. Significantly, the sector in which we are active accounts for more than 250,000 workers or approximately 15.5% of the entire workforce in our economy. The importance and value of retail work has significantly increased largely due to the hollowing out and loss of decent employment in other traditional sectors such as construction and manufacturing during the years of economic recession. In many instances the earnings derived from retail have become the principle income for many households.

Many of the relevant background issues pertinent to this important debate being considered today were highlighted when we presented before this very committee in September 2013. Therefore, I would urge committee members to revert to our previous presentationalong with what we have to say today in order to build a comprehensive brief on this crucial issue to many thousands of low paid workers and their dependents.

The growth of precarious work and low insecure wages is in no doubt the fuel that drives income inequality both in Ireland and indeed globally. However, we would suggest that the problem here is particularly acute based on recent research emanating from TASC titled “Cherishing All Equally: Economic Inequality in Ireland”

As we emerge from many years of economic recession and associated austerity policies which imposed hardship on many of our citizens it’s time to fundamentally address the type of society that will emerge and the degree of influence open to us in shaping it. Do we repeat the mistakes of the past by placing the greed of the market ahead of the needs of our people? Much emphasis has recently been placed on the importance of work in building both economic and social prosperity into the future. The slogan of “work must pay” is one which is commonly recited however we must ensure that we go far beyond the rhetoric and ensure that this aspiration becomes a reality for the many thousands of current and indeed perspective workers who are not only entitled to it, but also deserve it.Clearly there now exists a moral imperative on behalf of the State and employers to create a fundamental shift in how we view the world of work and ensure that the “jobs at any cost strategy” does not become counterproductive.

Based on previous experiences if left to their own devises far too many employers will ignore this call for a fairer and more decent workplace. You only have to listen to some of the submissions made to this Committee over the last few weeks to identify the extent of the challenge which faces those who are caught in exploitative, low paid employment. Little hope is offered to them in the IBEC position which strongly rejects the concept of a living wage but also strenuously argues against any increase in the statutory minimum wage. The ISME approach seems to suggest that the State should step up its commitment to social transfers in order to offset the potential poverty traps associated with precarious low paid work – significantly though, ISME fails to indicate what further taxation measures they would propose in order to facilitate such a policy. Of course the intent behind this suggestion is to primarily shift the responsibility from employers to pay a fair and decent wage to their employees. Far too many employers subscribe to the call for wage restraint because wage increases might cause damage to economic recovery Surely a more courageous and creative attitude must be demanded from employers. They cannot be allowed wash their hands of their collective responsibility towards building a sustainable economy along with a fairer society.

In the face of this determined resistance by large groups of employers the State for its part must set out a clear vision and create a culture whereby a fairer sustainable deal is achievable for not only low paid but indeed all workers. As I have already stated this is a moral imperative and essential if we are to create a society in which the general discourse around issues such as statutory minimum and living wage thresholds can take place in a balanced manner ensuring that the voices of all parties can be afforded the respect, dignity and influence that they deserve. The traditional powershift between labour and capital has dramatically increased in favour of the latter,particularly during periods of heightened economic recession. This reality is most apparent in the fall in disposable incomesand subsequent dramatic decline in domestic consumption which has occurred in recent times. The shift in this power balance is also linked to the numbers of workers who are Trade Union members. The right to collectively bargain in a meaningful way must be a cornerstone to any new order that emerges over the coming years. In this regard the proposed introduction of legislation in this area is to be welcomed but employers must not be allowed an easy route away from the obligations which are placed upon them. For far too long many employers have been allowed through our voluntarist model of industrial relations adopt a dismissive and hypocritical approach to the real value of a workers constitutional right to become a member of a Trade Union. This is best highlighted in a recent letter from management in Dunnes Stores to its 10,000 employees where it is stated that the company “wholehearthly endorses” the right to join a union however in the course of the same correspondence it states “the Company will not enter into direct discussions with a Trade Union”. It must be pointed out that this letter was written within the context of an ongoing dispute we are having with this extremely profitable Irish employer which not surprisingly centreson the core issues of decent work. The existence and outcomes from a robust meaningful collective bargaining environment not only has the direct effect of lifting workers out of precarious working conditions but also lessens greatly the pressure and obligations on the State to provide support structures which prevent more workers being exploited and moving deeper into workplace poverty. Many employers are prepared to do the right thing by their employees and enter into collective agreements with Mandate to produce working conditions which are decent and fair. In the main this ensures that the workers concerned do not have to turn to the State to supplement their earnings in order that they and their dependents can reach a basic standard of living. As a result of pay enhancements we have negotiated for our members in the past three years it is estimated that over €30 million has directly returned through consumption back into the domestic economy. This has had the combined effect of reducing social welfare transfers, increased economic activity which has helped maintain and create more jobs, increased revenue for the State through Employers’ PRSI, Income Tax, Employee’s PRSI and VAT receipts, while also reducing poverty and deprivation levels.

Much of the proponents who argue against provisions such as a statutory minimum and a living wage do so on the basis that the market must be free to compete without undue restrictions and ultimately wage levels and working conditions will find their own levels. Such unfetteredself-regulation has proven in the past to have unquestionably failed to the extent that it could not predict or prevent the damage which was ultimately inflicted on the very economic model which it underpins. Also this ideology seems to conveniently ignore the voice of workers by denying them meaningful access to the negotiating table either individually or collectively in order to present their case. Therefore, whilst many thousands of workers remain outside of the protection of Union membership and those who are members are denied the right to be properly represented the demand is greater than ever to challenge some of the stale narrow minded thinking which has so dramatically failed, particularly in the recent past.

Albeit on the back of a slow economic recovery we call for a new Code of Practice which establishes a framework that promotes genuine access to full time employment and an end to involuntary part time working where it is feasible and possible to do so. This can be best achieved by re focusing and developing the relevant parts of EU Directive 97/81/EC which was subsequently transposed into Irish law and largely contained in a Code of Practice drawn up by The Labour Relations Commission in 2006 titled “Code of Practice on Access to Part Time Working”. As the title suggests the main intent behind the Directive was to facilitate the transition to part time working in the context of encouraging and promoting the development of a flexible labour market. A much overlooked and largely ignored provision within the Directive and indeed the Code is a requirement to consider“requests by workers to transfer from part-time to full-time work or to increase their working time should the opportunity arise”. Sadly, the application of this objective has been little practiced in the intervening years with the main emphasis being on the erosion of full time employment rather than its creation. The original Directive goes on to state…”Implementation of the provisions of this agreement shall not constitute valid grounds for reducing the general level of protection afforded to workers in the field of this agreement. This does not prejudice the right of Member States and/or social partners to develop different legislative, regulatory or contractual provisions, in the light of changing circumstances”…

The adoption of our call for a new Code of Practice will have the effect of sending out a clear message that as a society we are intent in moving away from an employment model which has resulted in Ireland currently having the highest prevelanceof low paid jobs in the OECD, second only to the US. It will also have the effect of telling certain employers and their representatives who continue to display a narrow andself servingattitude that they cannot be allowed ride two horses. On the one hand they cannot deliberately continue to skew the balance of power in their favour by refusing workers real and meaningful access to collective bargaining rights whilst on the other argue against protective statutory measures such as minimum and living wage thresholds, the existence of which are a consequential necessity directly arising from their regressive attitude towards workers’ rights to collectively bargain in the first instance. Refusal by employers to address this crucial point will result in measures such as statutory minimum and living wage thresholds being an essential part of our employment scene for many years to come.

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