Paid parental leave, two extra public holidays and improved redundancy payments are among the measures promised by Labour leader Mr Ruairí Quinn if his party is in government after the next election.
He chose the entrance to the doomed Irish Glass Bottle Company in his constituency of Dublin South East yesterday to launch the party's very substantial package on employment rights. It includes a proposal to increase statutory redundancy for workers to three weeks' pay for each year of service. At present, it varies from one week's pay to half-a-week's pay per year of service.
The party has used an online poll at www.labour.ie to establish when people would like extra public holidays. Midsummer's Day topped the poll at 28 per cent, closely followed by St Brigid's Day (February 1st) at 27 per cent, which suggests Labour has the folklore vote sewn up. Labour's spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment Mr Pat Rabbitte said one suggestion had been "IBEC Day", when everyone would "play golf in the morning and campaign for Mary Harney in the afternoon".
IBEC will not be too pleased with proposals to increase the national minimum wage, give unions a statutory right to represent employees in workplaces where over 50 per cent want it, and introduce stiff penalties for employers who fail to provide adequate insurance cover for employees. Another proposal strengthens statutory supervision of business with a Whistle Blowers Protection Bill to prevent employees from being sacked or victimised for reporting corporate wrongdoing.
Where workers are sacked, Labour is proposing to give the Employment Appeals Tribunal "enhanced discretion" to make higher awards.
Paid parental leave will be introduced for mothers and fathers and there will be a right to part-time working for a still-to-be-defined period after the birth of a child. At present, maternity leave is the only parental leave for which payments are made and the Labour Party is planning to improve this as well.
If all of this confirms the fears of IBEC's director general Mr Turlough O'Sullivan that the labour market is becoming over-regulated, Mr Quinn responded by saying "all of us are working longer hours in reality, including longer commuting time to and from work. People have an entitlement to leisure as a basic right." Ireland has the lowest number of public holidays in the EU after The Netherlands, he said.