I move amendment No. 7:
In page 5, subsection (1), lines 31 and 32, to delete paragraph (1) and substitute the following:
"(i) any terms or conditions relating to hours of work (including overtime, daily starting and finishing time) and where the starting and finishing time may vary during the course of employment, the statement will confirm that the employee will be given notice of his/her daily starting and finishing time at the end of the previous working week,".
I seek here to replace the relevant section there at lines 31 and 32 by an alternative wording. I will briefly tell members why it is necessary. The only effective change is the requirement that where the starting and finishing time may vary because of the nature of the work and so on, a statement will confirm to the employee at the end of the previous working week that the employee will be given notice of his or her daily starting and finishing times.
That is important because in several occupations it is one of the most serious complaints that workers have. I have seen it in the hotel and catering industry and in the case of temporary nurses, nurses who are not informed until they present on the ward or in a nursing home how many hours they might be required to work that day. Indeed, they might be sent home because there is no work or because they work only four hours. In the hotel and catering industry it is notorious because the peaks and valleys of business obviously have to be catered for, but the worker ought to be given some notice. Every hotel manager knows if the Cáirde Fáil dinner is on the following Monday night that it will be a massive affair requiring additional staff and only the best quality service.
The employees on call should be told the number of hours they will be expected to work, the starting and finishing times, rather than being told on the night that circumstances have changed and that some staff must be sent home while others are only needed for four hours. In keeping with the spirit of the legislation in terms of clarity and certainty, it is necessary to give employees reasonable notice about the situation.
The same problem exists in the retail trade. It is subject to peaks and valleys — for example pre-Christmas trading and January sales — and it is unfair for people to present themselves for work and be told they are either not required or they are required to work a 12-hour shift. This situation is especially painful in the nursing area. One category of workers who do not exaggerate the pressures under which they work and the contribution they make are general staff nurses. It is difficult for a nurse to report for duty and be told that she must do an inordinately long shift becaue of a shortage of staff or some unforeseen situation.
A person who is a temporary worker, not by choice but because of the situation in the labour market, should enjoy the same entitlements as workers who are fortunate to be in full-time employment. A person cannot arrange a personal life or attend to family needs because he does not know until he presents himself for work whether he will be able to take the children home from school or prepare meals for them, etc. It is an important area and it imposes little difficulty on the employer who can arrange this by trade union agreement. However, it should be enshrined in the law if there are no agreements.