Tomorrow is May Day, a day when trade unions and workers across the world unite in solidarity and in support of workers' rights. It is also 100 years since the 1913 Lockout, when Irish workers endured great hardship to secure such basic rights as the right to join a trade union and decent working conditions.

I doubt workers in 1913 could have foreseen the decimation of these hard won entitlements that is taking place today. Is the Taoiseach aware that Ireland is one of only three European Union member states in which workers do not have a statutory right to workplace representation? Whereas workers once stood up and were counted, there is now a growing culture of keeping one's head down and getting on with it for fear of being targeted by certain employers, albeit not all of them, as they take full advantage of the recession to have labour laws watered down in the name of economic recovery. Some unscrupulous employers are driving down wages, sacking workers and hiring others at cheaper rates, cutting overtime payments, demanding longer hours and ignoring trade unions. All of this is being done by stealth and the Government is doing little about it.

Is the Taoiseach aware that the Council of Europe watchdog, the European Committee of Social Rights, has found Ireland to be in breach of eight European requirements on employment rights? Far from protecting workers on low and middle incomes, the Government has aggressively gone after increments and pay for unsocial hours and is now threatening worse if public sector workers do not agree to its plans. Will the Taoiseach make a commitment to strengthen the regulatory framework of labour legislation and collective bargaining? As many Deputies are aware from their constituencies, the regulatory framework is clearly not solid enough to deal with current levels of exploitation and marginalisation of workers. Will the Government commission the OECD to investigate the full consequences of the bailout exit strategy it is pursuing in terms of its impact on workers' rights and their quality of life?

The Taoiseach will recognise that labour rights are human rights. The failure of the Government to enforce legislation which gives every worker the right to join a trade union without being intimidated or facing the possibility of being sacked is a gross violation of workers' human rights.

The position in so far as workers and their conditions are concerned has changed radically since 1913. In the intervening period we have had the development of a unique voluntary architecture for industrial relations which has, by and large, proved itself to be outstanding when compared to legislative or statutory based systems. It is important that the concept behind this architecture is maintained.

It is the right of every worker to join a trade union if he or she so wishes and the Government is cognisant of the bargaining rights of workers. We reversed the cut in the minimum wage, removed 300,000 employees from the scope of the universal social charge and provided in the proposed Croke Park II agreement that 87% of lower paid workers on salaries of less than €65,000 would have their core pay untouched.

I engaged yesterday with the Prime Ministers of Spain and Portugal, two countries where the position is very different from the position here. While the Government completely understands the challenge we all face, it has been cognisant of the need to understand and ameliorate, in so far as possible in the circumstances, the difficulties and challenges faced by workers.

It is a long time since "Big" Jim Larkin did his thing for workers on O'Connell Street and we have come a long way since. We hope workers will benefit from some of the financial decisions the Government made today. I fully respect the bargaining rights of workers and the opportunities in place. It is in the interests of government and the nation to have a well run, competitive economy where employment opportunities beckon for those who have a particular talent or experience and those who are unemployed.

As noted by the European committee to which I referred, the human rights of workers in Ireland are being violated in three ways, namely, in respect of the failure to provide for trade union recognition and in aspects of the liquidation and insolvency processes. While I do not have any time for some of the current leadership of the trade union movement, legislation must be introduced to give workers a right to join a trade union without being vilified by the management of companies that refuse to recognise trade unions.

Is it right that when companies are liquidated workers are the last people to be paid? Whereas everyone else is paid by the liquidators, workers, even those with families, are told to go home and wait for 12, 14 or 16 weeks to receive a social welfare payment. Is it right that in the case of insolvency, a company can tell workers to take statutory redundancy, for which the State pays, before proceeding to reopen under another name and hire workers at lower wages? This is happening all over the country. I can cite four examples of this practice in my constituency and, as Deputy Boyd Barrett could tell us, workers who were sacked by a company that subsequently reopened under another name have been on strike for four years.

I ask the Taoiseach to carefully examine the three areas I have highlighted where the human rights of workers are being denied. Workers should have the right to join a trade union. They should be looked after when a company is liquidated by being paid the wages, overtime, holiday pay and so forth that they are owed, and for which they can wait years under the current system. Furthermore, if a company becomes insolvent, it should not be permitted to reopen under another name, selling the same products, having hired workers at a lower rate of pay.

The Deputy has raised three important issues. I reiterate that it is the right of any worker to join a trade union. While it is assumed that the joining of a trade union brings with it bargaining rights, this also assumes the number of members is such that it will make that happen.

The Taoiseach should ask Dunnes Stores if its staff can join a trade union.

As I stated, the unique structure of Irish industrial relations has, by and large, stood the test of time and it is important that we retain the voluntary concept. It is not true that workers are always the last to be paid when companies are liquidated. While there may be challenges or competing interests from different creditors, when companies become insolvent or are liquidated it is always of critical importance that workers receive the compensation due to them and are afforded their rights. This can take time and court cases are sometimes required to validate these rights. This is obviously an issue that arises from time to time and is one that is difficult to sort out.