Sinn Féin Fair Hours amendment passed – Brady

Sinn Féin spokesperson for Employment Affairs & Social Protection John Brady TD has welcomed the passing of his party’s amendment to the Government’s Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill at Committee stage which was taken this afternoon.

The Sinn Féin amendment for fair hours was passed following the defeat of the Government’s own amendment to the Bill.

Speaking following the meeting, Teachta Brady said:

“This Bill is crucially important to protect the rights of all workers but in particular workers in precarious and low-paid employment.

“This Bill needed to achieve security for workers when it comes to their working hours and in turn, their incomes. We also needed to ensure that the actual hours worked by an employee are reflected in their employment contract.

“While this Bill consists of a number of important provisions, it was essential that the bands of weekly working hours were made sharp and precise and legislated for in this Bill.

“The Government had brought forward an amendment to the weekly bands which they had initially proposed, but this amendment was defeated in favour of the bands we put forward.

“This was an amendment brought forward by myself and my colleague Deputy David Cullinane who has worked tirelessly to ensure the protection of workers’ rights when it comes to fair hours.

“I also want to pay tribute to the Dunnes Stores workers who highlighted their own case back in 2015 and persisted with this to the benefit of all workers.”