A Sligo councillor is calling for the government to introduce legislation to deal with what he says are ‘precarious work practices’.
It follows a recent report from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions highlighting the need for a legal right to guaranteed minimum number of hours for workers and a ban on zero-hour contracts.
The report points out that 8% of the workforce have significant variations in their hours of work from week to week and from month to month.
It also found that 7% of the workforce were in temporary employment in 2016.
Independent Councillor Declan Bree says that while overall employment numbers have risen, the numbers in permanent fulltime employment are still 109,000 lower than in 2008.
Over half that number said they were in temporary employment because they could not find permanent work.
Cllr Bree says it was also found that women and young workers were more likely to be employed on insecure terms, with those in distribution, hotels, catering, retail, construction, public administration, health and education particularly affected.
Sligo county councillors this week agreed with a motion from Cllr Bree calling for the government to deal with this issue through new legislation.
