I move amendment No. 1:
In page 8, lines 10 to 17, to delete subsection (4) and substitute the following new subsection:
"(4) In the case of a part-time employee placed by a temporary work agency at the disposition of a user enterprise, the comparator worker shall be a comparable full-time employee in the user enterprise.".
The Minister discussed this in considerable detail on Committee and Report Stages in the Dáil but I urge him, given that there is still time to bring the Bill back before the Dáil, to reconsider this serious flaw in the Bill. I doubt that the directive intended agency workers to be excluded. Senator Cox said on Second Stage that she has an agency and I am sure she would not like the people she puts forward for employment to be in a more invidious situation than the people directly employed by an enterprise.
The amendment is simple. Rather than have agency workers who are temporary compared to agency workers who are permanent, it provides that agency workers who are temporarily employed by an enterprise should be compared to full-time employees of that enterprise. People who may be employed through agencies are in a fragile position when it comes to enforcing their rights because some agencies may not be as good as others.
The reason I feel so strongly about this issue is that I work in the medical services area where a considerable number of agency workers are employed. A large number of nurses, hospital helps, paramedical staff and even medical staff are employed on an agency basis and I believe I must speak up for them. They will not have the same rights unless the Minister accepts the amendment. I am also anxious about this matter because many of these workers are women. With the downturn in the economy, agency workers will be increasingly employed in everything from the retail trade and manufacturing to schools because enterprises might not be anxious to take on the full responsibilities this Bill, rightly, imposes with regard to part-time workers.
It is a good Bill; nobody is criticising the Minister for it. However, there is a loophole in this area and with the downturn in the economy many enterprises might feel it is wiser to employ people on an agency basis rather than directly.