Meta layoffs and workers' rights
Deputy Bacik raised impending Meta redundancies and called for stronger collective bargaining and workplace organising rights. The Taoiseach expressed sympathy, said the company must first announce the cuts, and promised engagement on severance and State supports.
Employees in Meta's Irish operation are set to be informed of further layoffs today. This is distressing news for so many.
This year, we have heard many announcements of tech redundancies with a repeated pattern in tech companies of employees being hired en masse and then fired, again in large numbers, for the sake of so-called efficiency.
In these difficult times, we in the Labour Party believe Government must act to rebalance power between workers and corporations. Workers need not only a right to bargain collectively but also a right to organise in their workplaces, because through trade unions we have seen many of the workers' rights implemented that we enjoy today. Indeed, many tech workers are now voting with their feet and are joining unions such as the Financial Services Union, FSU, to ensure they are protected from global forces at play in the tech industry. What action is the Taoiseach taking to tackle job losses in the tech sector and will his Government commit to implementing a right to organise for trade unions in Irish workplaces?
Comment on this
I understand Meta will announce significant job losses affecting its operations in Ireland later this afternoon. It is important the company be allowed to make that announcement and engage with its staff, so I will not say too much about that here today. That would be unfair and inappropriate.
Obviously, my thoughts are with the staff who are affected and their families. I assure them we will engage with the company to make sure they are given a decent severance package or redundancy package, which we would expect all employers to do, and that they will receive support from the State in terms of job search, education and training, if they need it.
I would point out though, and this matters, that the statistics out today from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, show 2.6 million people at work in Ireland, which is more than ever before. In the tech sector, which the Deputy mentioned, that ICT sector, there has been an increase of 4,000 in the number of people working in that sector in the past year. While there are job losses across the tech sector, there are lots of job opportunities too. There are more people working in that sector than there were this time last year.