I hope the Minister will. What could be the attitude of the Minister of State and his Government to partnership agreements if, on a very basic issue such as this, they require retail workers to enter into national agreements and on one basic principle of civil and working rights, namely, the right to opt out of Sunday working, they are absolutely refusing to proceed? By his crass refusal to act, to adopt this Bill and put it into law, the Minister is endangering one of the central achievements in the management of our economy over the past ten or 11 years. When their representatives go to the table to discuss the next national pay and conditions agreement, workers in the retail sector will certainly be justified in feeling that the Minister's performance on this matter does not give much cause for hope for a continuation of partnership. The partnership approach has been essential to the development of the Celtic tiger. Traditionally, workers have been protected regarding Sunday work by joint labour agreements and local and national agreements. Traditionally small corner shops and sole traders have facilitated consumers with a basic Sunday service. It is the expansion of the large retail multiples such as the Irish-owned Dunnes Stores and Superquinn and the foreign-owned Tesco, and the determination of the management of some of those companies to make almost every Sunday just another trading day, which has drastically changed the traditional pattern of Sunday working in the retail trade. It was the action of Dunnes Stores in 1994 in effectively dictating to their workers that they had to work on Sundays which was the beginning of the present considerable difficulties. Over the past five years especially, workers have been under enormous pressure to work on Sunday, as is clearly shown by the long struggle between Dunnes Stores and their workers represented by the MANDATE trade union.
Sunday working has placed an enormous strain on the personal and family lives of many workers in the retail and other sectors. Other major developments, for example zero hour contracts, have also increased the stress on them. I commend the former Minister, Eithne Fitzgerald, for effectively bringing to an end in the legislation enacted before the general election the notorious practice of zero hour contracts. Workers have been forced to go on strike for their basic civil rights. The refusal by many companies to give a premium rate for Sunday working is another step in eroding the rights of workers.
Many of these developments are synonymous with the introduction of temporary and casual working. The living standards and family life of many workers have been put under dire threat by some of these developments. The workers with whom I spoke today reminded me that even in Thatcherite Britain the Government believed it was essential to give workers the right to opt out of Sunday working. Why is the Minister so hesitant to introduce this key principle here?
My colleague, Deputy O'Shea, with whom I wish to share my time, will deal with the damage caused to small traders. The pendulum has swung too far in the direction of major companies and their management. The long discussions Eithne Fitzgerald entered into in an effort to introduce fundamental reform in this area were well worthwhile. The organisation of working time legislation proves this.
I had to twice ask the Minister to debate this matter in the House. During a previous debate he said I was not present during all the Committee Stage debate on the Organisation of Working Time Act. I was a member of four committees in the previous Dáil, including the Committee of Public Accounts, and at times I found it difficult to attend all of them and to also be present in the House. Nevertheless, I have always had a profound interest in this matter.
Almost 30 years ago in my native area of Clondalkin my father and most of my uncles were forced to go on strike as a result of a proposal by the management of the paper mill to introduce compulsory working on Sunday. This proposal eventually led to a two centuries old tradition of paper making in Clondalkin coming to an end. The management insisted on Sunday working without giving workers a premium rate or time off. I remember the great sadness felt by the members of my family at this proposal. People who played for the local Round Towers GAA team, Clondalkin Celtic football team and the rugby club had their social life seriously disrupted by Sunday working. While the workers stood up to management they were beaten into submission, so to speak. Less than a decade later the company was liquidated. This left a deep mark on my family and I am proud it has fallen to me to bring forward this legislation on behalf of the Labour Party.
My former colleague, Eithne Fitzgerald, must be commended on introducing the concept of minimum extra compensation for workers. Section 14 of the Organisation of Working Time Act provides a premium rate for all employees, regardless of whether they are covered by a collective agreement or joint labour committee decision. She modelled this Act closely on the European Working Time Directive and has provided considerable protection for Sunday workers. Under that Act Sundays must be included in the 35 hours weekly rest period to which employees are entitled, unless otherwise provided for in the contract of employment. The Organisation of Working Time Act provides for opting out of Sunday work by employees whose contract of employment does not state they must work on Sundays. Our trade union colleagues believe that Act should go much further, but the then Minister, Eithne Fitzgerald, intended to bring forward specific legislation. If a person works only on Sunday, under the Organisation of Working Time Act they are entitled to premium time off in lieu of pay.
The Organisation of Working Time Act repealed and improved existing legislation on holidays by increasing the basic entitlement from 15 to 20 days per annum and by making an equally significant improvement for part-time and contract workers by way of a pro rata increase in holiday entitlements. In effect, therefore, the Organisation of Working Time Act offered considerable improvement for working on Sundays, not least of which was it outlawed zero hour contracts.
My former colleague, Eithne Fitzgerald, noted last March in her contribution to the Protection of Workers (Shops) Bill, 1996, Deputy Tom Kitt's original Bill, that great difficulties are presented to legislators in attempting to protect Sunday workers. In her lengthy period as Minister of State responsible for labour she explored in great detail the possibility of introducing a referendum to ban Sunday opening by large multiples. The advice she received from the then Attorney General indicated that it was not possible to ban Sunday trading in large retail units and to leave the traditional small corner shop operating as before without taking the issue to the country by way of referendum. The former Minister held lengthy consultations with MANDATE, SIPTU and our other union colleagues as well as with the large retail chains and their representatives such as IBEC.
In the context of the difficulty of proceeding with constitutional change, on which the then Minister had embarked, she decided to implement the comprehensive Organisation of Working Time Act which greatly improved conditions for all workers, including those who work on Sundays. When the Minister, Deputy Tom Kitt, introduced the Protection of Workers (Shops) Bill, 1996, my colleague, Eithne Fitzgerald, immediately accepted it and it went to the Select Committee on Enterprise and Employment, chaired by Deputy Bell. From talking to representatives of workers and business interests concerned, further consultation was necessary on some aspects of the Bill. The central principle of optional Sunday work was a valuable advance for retail Sunday workers.
If the general election had not intervened, the Protection of Workers (Shops), Bill, 1996, would be on the Statute Book. If we had a November general election, as I advocated — I would like to have waited for a November election — Fianna Fáil would not have been able to garner considerable support from Sunday shop workers because the principle of voluntary Sunday working would be enshrined in law. The Fianna Fáil Party, lead in this instance by the Minister, Deputy Tom Kitt, has betrayed one of the most vulnerable sectors of the workforce. The workers whom the Labour Party are seeking to protect are primarily women, often on low pay, casual workers or those on short-term contracts.
The participation rate of part-time employees has increased from 8.5 per cent to almost 14 per cent in the past eight years. In many aspects of modern society it is essential for both partners in a relationship to work if the family is to afford the basic necessities to survive. In our information clinics we often come in contact with part-time workers, including Sunday workers, in the retail trade who are desperately trying to maintain a mortgage, in many cases a local authority mortgage. For many such workers there is no choice about working on Sundays. They are compelled by the harsh circumstances of modern economic life to take whatever work is available, even under harsh conditions.
I appeal to the Ministers, Deputies Harney and Kitt, to support those families by accepting this Bill. I have made the minimum possible changes to the Bill as introduced by the Minister, Deputy Kitt. Essentially I took into account the passage of the Organisation of Working Time Bill. As in the earlier Bill, section 3 of this Bill does not apply to the relatives or owners of a shop, employees normally expected to work less than eight hours per week and employees who have been in the continual service of an employer for less than one month.
Section 4 is the core of the Bill and the reason we in the Labour Party demand the legislation should be enacted. Under this section an employee will not be obliged to work on a Sunday without his or her consent and it will be unlawful for an employer to require an employee to work on a Sunday without that consent. Section 5 provides that an employee who opts out of Sunday work for religious, family or other reasons shall not be discriminated against in terms of salary, rotation of overtime, promotion or any other condition of employment. An employee who performs Sunday work under section 6 will be entitled to a whole or half day off the following week.
Section 7 provides for adequate notice of four working days to the employee from the employer and of three working days to the employer before the employee engages in Sunday work. Under section 8 an employer cannot contract out of the provisions of the Bill. This is also an important provision because it makes it impossible to draw up a contract which would negate the central principle of section 4. Section 9 allows an employee to present complaints about any aspect of Sunday work to a rights commissioner whose recommendations shall be binding. There is also provision for a right of appeal to the High Court on a point of law.
I commend the Protection of Workers (Shops) Bill, 1997 to the House. Its central principle of voluntary Sunday work would be a clear advance for retail workers. The rainbow Government was correct to accept this Bill and to send it to committee for necessary amendment. The appalling, uncaring and cynical attitude of the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, to his Bill is a slap in the face for shop workers. On their behalf, I implore him to have a change of heart and to accept the Bill tonight. He has often spoken of the need for partnership in the House and across the social spectrum. A central principle of partnership should be to ensure the essential rights of workers are respected, in this case the basic right to opt out of Sunday work.
I wish to share time with Deputies O'Shea and Gormley.
