Richard Boyd Barrett: Disgraceful treatment of TV and Covalen workers
In a Dáil debate on a Sinn Féin motion, Richard Boyd Barrett addressed collective bargaining, workplace access for unions, the living wage and workers' rights to remote working. He highlighted the treatment of Oireachtas TV staff and mass job losses at Covalen, a contractor for Meta, and called for government intervention.
Richard Boyd Barrett details how staff who broadcast parliamentary proceedings are being left off rosters allegedly because of union activity. He describes seasonal pay that can be as low as about 12,000 euro a year and calls the working conditions for people serving the house and democracy disgraceful.
He raises the case of Covalen, a content-moderation contractor for Meta, noting reported profits and the recent announcement affecting around 700 workers after earlier losses of 300 roles. Barrett says Covalen, refuses to recognise the union, will not engage with shop stewards and has not offered adequate redundancy arrangements.
Barrett urges the government to intervene, asking for engagement with Meta and for ministers, including the Taoiseach, to meet CWU representatives and shop stewards. He calls for protections such as a cooling-off period to prevent workers being left without options while companies restructure.
Speaking in support of the Sinn Féin motion, Barrett ties these cases to wider issues: collective bargaining rights, access for unions to workplaces, lifting the minimum wage toward a living wage and defending workers' rights to remote working. He frames the incidents as symptomatic of companies prioritising profit over worker rights and criticises government inaction.
Oireachtas TV workers' conditions
Richard Boyd Barrett details how staff who broadcast parliamentary proceedings are being left off rosters allegedly because of union activity. He describes seasonal pay that can be as low as about 12,000 euro a year and calls the working conditions for people serving the house and democracy disgraceful.
Covalen, Meta and redundancies
He raises the case of Covalen, a content-moderation contractor for Meta, noting reported profits and the recent announcement affecting around 700 workers after earlier losses of 300 roles. Barrett says Covalen, refuses to recognise the union, will not engage with shop stewards and has not offered adequate redundancy arrangements.
Demand for government action
Barrett urges the government to intervene, asking for engagement with Meta and for ministers, including the Taoiseach, to meet CWU representatives and shop stewards. He calls for protections such as a cooling-off period to prevent workers being left without options while companies restructure.
Broader labour rights context
Speaking in support of the Sinn Féin motion, Barrett ties these cases to wider issues: collective bargaining rights, access for unions to workplaces, lifting the minimum wage toward a living wage and defending workers' rights to remote working. He frames the incidents as symptomatic of companies prioritising profit over worker rights and criticises government inaction.
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Transcript
Deputy Boyd Burris. Okay thanks and thanks to Sinn Féin for this important motion and I obviously agree with all the points that are being put forward about collective bargaining rights, access, providing unions access to the workplace, bringing minimum wage in line with the living wage and the issues of workers' right to remote working. I just want to shout out for a few specific groups of workers. First of all the Oireachtas TV workers. They are telling me now that people are being left, the people who broadcast these proceedings are being left off the roster because of their union activities and because they have campaigned over really what is shameful. I mean they are doing us a big and the country a big favour. Maybe it's debatable if they're doing the country a favour by broadcasting what goes on in here but it is a public service and some of them get earning as about 12,000 euro a year laid off when the doll is off, during summer holidays, Christmas, all the rest of us right. Disgraceful conditions for people who are doing an important service for democracy and for this house and nothing has been done about it. Nothing has been done about it. The company making profits out of all of this continues to get the contract again and again. It's outrageous right. Something needs to be done about it and it's disgraceful that's been let stand. Secondly the Covalin issues already I mentioned it earlier on. It's been mentioned here again. Covalin who made I think in the year before last as I mentioned earlier on 26 million euro profit. A major contractor for Meta who are making absolute billions. These are the content moderators who protect people against the toxic content that you get on social media and all the rest of it. Then training up the AI that replaces them and Covalin refuse. Of course benefit from all sorts of tax breaks and tax deductions and all that kind of stuff. R&D tax credits no R&D tax credits no doubt. But they refuse to recognize the union. Refuse to recognize the union and now 700 workers just told and there was 300 before that your jobs are gone without a buyer leave and no redundancy and they refuse to engage with the union. Employers should not be allowed to do that to workers as simple as that. But yet this government doesn't stand with the workers but instead just bends over backwards for these companies who exploit workers make super profits and treat them in this utterly disgraceful way. Those workers I talked to them this morning their union reps and so on the CWU and their shop stewards and they are asking the government for intervention. They want to meet the Taoiseach of the senior minister and they want the government to intervene with META to at least as well as on the you know engaging with the union but at least insist that this six-month cooling-off period of means they can't go and get a job elsewhere if something is done about that so they can get alternative employment.