Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West, Se\u00e1n Crowe, has criticised the Government for not backing Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s motion to the D\u00e1il on improving workers\u2019 rights, widening the Low Pay Commission\u2019s remit, and banning zero hour contracts.<\/p>\n
Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis motion is extremely timely considering the on-going industrial dispute between works and Dunnes Stores, and the victimisation of some of the participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Dunnes Stores dispute brings to the fore the inadequacy of existing legislation and its inability to protect the wages and conditions of vulnerable workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI again state my solidarity and support for these workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIreland has a significant low pay problem with almost 12 per cent of workers being at risk of poverty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not unique to Ireland but a challenge to workers all over the world facing unfair zero hour contracts and a reduction in their rights.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have recently met with some organisers of the Fight for $15 campaign which are seeking to get a living wage for fast food workers in the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Fight for 15 campaign mobilised tens of thousands of workers to strike in the US yesterday and workers in 123 cities in 35 countries joined the demonstrations in the first of a worldwide coordinated strike for living wages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIrish trade unionists have demonstrated their solidarity yesterday evening.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in Canada last week and spoke to trade union activists in Toronto and Montreal about the dangers of zero hour contracts and Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s campaign for a living wage in Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Private Members Motion rightly calls for an immediate ban on all zero-hour contracts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Crowe continued:<\/p>\n
\u201cI welcome that a Low Pay Commission has been established but it is extremely narrow in its focus and is limited to reviewing aspects of the minimum wage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt lacks teeth, vision, and will create even more uncertainty for vulnerable workers and continue to disadvantage many legitimate employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Low Pay Commission needs to be established as the primary watchdog on low pay and its responsibilities widened to tackle the real extent of low pay, not just the around the issue of the minimum wage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Government also needs to urgently set a date for the introduction of Collective Bargaining legislation. Ireland is one of only two of the EU\u2019s 27 Member States that does not have collective bargaining legislation in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of Collective Bargaining mechanisms and anti-victimization legislation has had a direct impact on workers like those in Dunnes Stores.\u00a0 The simple fact is that if such legislation was in place this dispute would not have happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government is making a huge mistake in refusing to back our Private Members motion that will improve workers\u2019 rights, conditions of employment and take home pay.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
ENDS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinn F\u00e9in TD for Dublin South West, Se\u00e1n Crowe, has criticised the Government for not backing Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s motion to the D\u00e1il on improving workers\u2019 rights, widening the Low Pay Commission\u2019s remit, and banning zero hour contracts. Deputy Se\u00e1n Crowe said: \u201cThis motion is extremely timely considering the on-going industrial dispute between works and Dunnes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,170,96,144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dunnes-stores","category-low-pay-commission","category-trade-unions","category-workers-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2140,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions\/2140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/seancrowe.ie\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}