I wish to raise the very serious and escalating situation facing workers in Tesco. In recent weeks, Tesco has decided to take the extraordinary action of bypassing its workers' union, Mandate, and unilaterally imposing the terms of a contract. These terms, if accepted, would mean a pay cut of more than 15%, in addition to an attack on terms and conditions for the company's longest-serving workers. This is only the beginning. Tesco's union-busting activities are part of a broader plan known as Project Black, which was drawn up by a specialist international legal team called Eversheds. It aims to get rid of 1,200 of the most secure and well-paid jobs in the company, critically undermining the union in the process. If this plan succeeds, it will be a big step towards bringing Tesco into line with the low-hour, low-wage and insecure employment that is rampant across the retail sector. The company intends to enforce these changes by bullying its workers, trying to turn them against one another and disciplining those who speak out. This is both deeply worrying and unnecessary.

Tesco is no pauper. Research estimates suggest the company makes between €200 million and €250 million in profit per year in Ireland. Only a few years ago, Tesco was calling Ireland "Treasure Island" in its internal documents, a clear indication of the big money it made here.

In recent days in Britain, Tesco agreed to shell out £3.7 billion to buy Booker, the food wholesale company, and it plans to pay dividends to shareholders at the same time that it imposes cuts on workers. Tesco is a serious player. It is the largest private sector employer in Ireland. What happens to its 11,000 retail workers in the coming days and weeks should be of high priority to every Deputy. It will also tell a story about the reality of work in modern Ireland.

Figures show that Ireland is second in the OECD in terms of low pay at 25% of the workforce. The Tánaiste referred to yesterday's survey of income and living conditions, SILC, report but it also mentioned that 105,000 people were working poor. Every day, hundreds of thousands of people go to work in low-pay jobs on insecure terms and unpredictable hours, struggling to get by from day to day. In many cases, the public subsidises this. For example, 10% of Tesco's workforce is in receipt of family income supplement.

Will the Tánaiste condemn Tesco's latest actions? Will she defend the rights of workers to be represented in their workplaces and not to be bypassed by super-rich multinational corporations that try to impose terms unilaterally? Will she take action about the low-pay crisis, which already impacts on one quarter of our workers according to the OECD and threatens to escalate further under her Government?

I would make a number of points on the issue that the Deputy has raised about a particular firm. First of all, workers have a right to be consulted on any change in their contract. That goes without saying; it is a basic principle and we want to see that observed. The second point is that, in this country, we have the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. We would want to see these mechanisms being used to the full in a situation such as the Deputy describes. I will ask the Minister to liaise with her afterwards regarding any particular action that may be taken in terms of the situation that she has outlined.

The general point is that what we are seeing in Ireland at present is a huge increase in employment. We want to see well-paid jobs. We are seeing that across the country. We are seeing a huge reduction in unemployment from 15.7% down to just over 7% now. We want to continue that. We launched our new jobs action plan just this week. We want to see that improvement being reflected right across the country and we want to see well-paying jobs being available for individuals and for families because that is the best way out of poverty.

The Deputy has outlined a situation that she has concerns about in respect of Tesco but, in the first instance, it is for discussion between employers and employees. We have well-tested labour relations mechanisms available where there is conflict, and I would hope that they would be used.

The Tánaiste is ignoring the fact that the jobs debate is not simply about quantity, but also quality. It is not just about establishing commissions. We need robust legislation. The Government is allowing us to become a low-pay Ireland. According to the OECD, one in four Irish workers is low paid. According to yesterday's SILC report, there are more than 100,000 working poor. The same report stated that consistent poverty among the children of lone parents, who are disproportionately retail workers, has increased to 26.2%. These figures do not even count those people who are underemployed or the prevalence of short contracts and low, insecure hours.

What action will the Tánaiste take on this? Tesco is one of the few employers in the retail sector that still has thousands of decent jobs in which workers earn enough on which to live, and it has these jobs because workers organised. Research shows that, in the retail sector, those in unions earn approximately 30% more than those who are not. I urge the workers in Tesco to stay strong, stay together and remember that if the company is given the right to impose terms unilaterally on one group today, it will do so to another tomorrow.

This week is the 70th anniversary of the death of Jim Larkin. I will conclude with the slogan: an injury to one is an injury to all. That message should go out to every worker who is fighting those issues.

Hear, hear.

We all share the goal Deputy Joan Collins outlined of creating high quality jobs in this country. We certainly want to see that. In relation to the statistics that were published today, I wish to make the point that the full impact of the recovery that is ongoing is not reflected in the 2015 figures because we have had improvements since the figures that are in the report today were examined. As the Deputy is aware, we were in a position to introduce a range of welfare increases from 2016 onwards and, as a result, fewer people are dependent on transfers. For example, the number of people in receipt of working age income and employment supports continues to fall, to just under 405,000 people in December 2016. I accept that is still a large number. However, it is 10% less than the number claiming those allowances in the previous year, thus showing the rise in income. The jobs that are being created are taking people out of poverty and poverty traps but work remains to be done.