LIMERICK Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan has called on the government and the EU to tackle bogus self-employment and protect platform workers.
Senator Gavan, who is Sinn Féin Seanad spokesperson on Workers Rights, raised the issue with EU Commissioner Nicholas Schmitt at a recent meeting of the Committee on Trade and Enterprise.
‘I don’t want my son or daughter to have a future in which they wake up in the morning and look at an app to tell them if they have work that day and what kind of work that might be,” Senator Gavan said.
He believes that bogus self-employment is allowing big companies in IT, construction, food delivery, and many more sectors to exploit vulnerable workers.
“So long as there is a lack of regulation, the platform economy will thrive, workers will continue to be exploited and more industries will find a way to profit from this ‘Gig Economy’.”
Senator Gavan went onto say that in most situations, platform workers are wrongly classified as self-employed which allows workers to circumvent what should be their obligations to employees under employment law.
“Workers have less entitlements to social welfare supports if and when they need them. It also means no access to an occupational pension, no paid sick, paternity or maternity leave, no redundancy pay, no fixed breaks or rest periods, no paid annual leave or pubic holidays.
“Sinn Féin have introduced a Bill to outlaw bogus self-employment which seeks to stand up for workers and put an end to this precarious type of arrangement. We must ensure real jobs are created with better protections for the workers in those sectors,” Senator Gavan concluded.
