Good Jobs Bill: Workers rights reforms will not happen before next election

It covers four broad areas of workers’ rights: Terms of employment, pay and benefits, work-life balance and the role of trades unions.

Among the most eye-catching proposals is a significant change to zero-hour contracts.

These are contracts which allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of the hours they will work.

They are often seen as emblematic of how employment has become more precarious for some workers.

These contracts would largely be replaced by “banded hours”.

That would mean workers who consistently work regular hours over a six month period will have a legal right to request to be moved into a specific band of contracted hours.

In the Republic of Ireland there are eight bands starting at three to six hours and running up to 36 hours and above.

Under the Good Jobs plan, an employer would only be able to refuse a request for a banded hours contract in limited circumstances.

Zero-hours contracts would remain legal where work is genuinely seasonal or casual.

For some employers the most controversial plans were for enhanced trade union access.

Currently, unions generally only have a right to enter a workplace if they are already recognised by the employer.

The bill would give unions a “right to request” access to meet with workers for recruitment and representation.

Access would not be automatic, but employers would not be permitted to “unreasonably” withhold it.