Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will commit to supporting a campaign (details supplied) and its six asks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30132/24]

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Respect at Work is a civil society campaign aimed at improving workers' rights in Ireland. Will the Minister of State commit to supporting this campaign and, specifically, its six legislative asks?

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the Respect at Work campaign, which is seeking new protections for workers wishing to organise in their workplaces. These proposals will be considered in the context of Ireland’s publication of an action plan to promote collective bargaining, as required by the EU directive on adequate minimum wages.

Article 4 of the directive, promotion of collective bargaining on wage setting, aims to promote collective bargaining on wages in all member states. The directive requires member states in which the collective bargaining coverage rate is less than 80% to provide "for a framework of enabling conditions for collective bargaining" and to publish an action plan to promote collective bargaining. The deadline for the action plan to be submitted to the Commission is the end of 2025 but the Government intends to publish it ahead of that date.

A technical working group has been established with Department officials and our social partners, including SIPTU representatives, to consider the content of the action plan. The working group has had three meetings to date, the most recent of which was this week, and has received proposals on some of the issues raised in the Respect at Work campaign, including legal protections for trade union members and trade union access to workplaces. The Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, met with the social partners in the context of the Labour Employer Economic Forum plenary meeting held on 24 June 2024 at which Ireland’s action plan was discussed. It will be further discussed at a meeting I will chair in July on the report of the LEEF high level group on collective bargaining and at a meeting of the LEEF subgroup on employment and enterprise which the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, will chair in September.

I would like to stress that the Government fully supports the right of any worker to join and be active in their trade union. Employees have the right under the Constitution to form associations and trade unions. Under Irish legislation, an employee cannot be discriminated against or dismissed because they are a member of a trade union.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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People are being discriminated against and they are being dismissed because of trade union activity. The simple fact is that if they were not, the Respect at Work campaign would not have come into being. While I completely understand the Minister of State's position with regard to the length of time this is going to take, it is open to the Government to act now. I asked a fairly simple question, which is if the Minister of State supports the six legislative asks. That should not contradict anything she has said or cross over it. She should be able to say to me very clearly that she does or does not support them. The six asks relate to protections for workers. Sinn Féin is fully committed to delivering the right to organise for workers, not simply the minimum allowed under the Constitution. As the Minister of State rightly points out, people have a right to be members of a trade union. They are not protected adequately because if they were, the Communication Workers Union, Mandate Trade Union, the Financial Services Union and SIPTU would not have come together to bring the Respect at Work campaign into being. Does the Minister of State support the six legislative asks which will deliver protections for workers when they are trying to get organised in the workplace?

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Respect at Work campaign has six recommendations seeking new protections for workers seeking to organise in workplaces. These proposals are being discussed and will be considered in the context of the action plan to promote collective bargaining. These discussions are ongoing and are happening at the moment. They were discussed at a meeting of officials in the technical working group this week. They will be discussed at a meeting I am chairing this month. They will be discussed in September at a meeting the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, is chairing. I also note that in the past week or so, the Taoiseach has committed again in this House that he wants to see progress on the action plan. It is a key priority of mine. That is why we are having meetings on this. As part of that work on the action plan, the Respect at Work recommendations and asks will be looked at. As the Deputy knows, this area is complex and nuanced legally and constitutionally. We are actively, positively and constructively considering the asks in the campaign.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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I will take that as a "No" for the moment. I am sure the Minister of State is aware that one in five workers in Ireland, over 420,000 people, are classified as low paid. More than 345,000 workers earn less than the living wage. Workers here work longer hours and have fewer days off than the European Union average. Last year, the WRC found that employment law was broken in every second investigation that they concluded. There is absolutely no doubt about it. Workers need the right to organise. They need the protection of their unions. The Minister of State will find that where workers are represented by a trade union, this is reflected in decent terms and conditions of employment. The six legislative asks, which I note the Minister of State is not committing to this morning, provide protections for workers who are trying to get organised. Clearly there is an issue with regard to workers needing that protection; otherwise, the trade unions would not be campaigning for it. As I have said, Sinn Féin is committed to delivering the right to organise, to include those protections for workers because they are very badly needed.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Government is absolutely committed to protecting workers. The Doherty report, which we commissioned, is our path towards doing that. We got a progress report on it only this week and work is under way on its recommendations. That is agreed at this point as the review mechanism we are looking at to improve workers' rights. So far, only last month on 17 June, the Labour Court confirmed it will examine the scope for amendments of its rules to include technical assessors, and it will engage with my Department on the possibility of reconfiguration of membership of the joint labour commissions. The Workplace Relations Commission has begun work with a view to developing a voluntary code of practice on collective bargaining. My Department has asked our social partners to submit joint proposals for training around collective bargaining. That is the work that is happening in this space, the work that continues to happen, and the work we are committed to as a Government.