Employees in Galway want the right to flexible work and a right to flexible work is “key to the revitalisation” of the city, the county, and the west of Ireland as a whole.
This is the view of Labour Galway City West councillor, Niall McNelis, who was speaking on his party’s Flexible Work Bill, which is currently before the Oireachtas.
An Ireland Thinks poll, commissioned by Labour, showed an overwhelming demand from workers for this right, with 71 per cent of people believing in a right to flexible work. Cllr McNelis said that when the figures are analysed further, it shows there were “clear cohorts of workers that this will benefit”, namely women (81 per cent in favour of flexible work ) and young workers (with again 81 per cent in favour ).
'Employers must accept new reality'
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The Government’s Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2021 has come in for heavy criticism, especially since it lays out 13 reasons why employers can refuse to approve a request for remote working. Labour TD, Ged Nash, said it was less a “right to request remote working framework”, and was instead “a charter for refusal”.
Labour's Bill will change the position from workers having to make a case to bosses for flexible working arrangements, to one where, if a worker wishes to maintain or establish flexible work arrangements, it is the employer who has to make the case to refuse.
“Over the course of the pandemic, workers in Galway discovered the working week doesn’t have to mean workers forced to rush out the door before dawn to get in the car - of which the running costs are now enormous - to drive long distances for work on traffic choked roads,” he said. “The Labour Party Bill intends to ensure employers accept this new reality.”
Potential benefits
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Cllr McNelis said the potential benefits of supporting working from home will be seen economically, environmentally, and in terms of quality of life.
“Labour’s Flexible Work Bill is key to realising the potential of rural County Galway,” he said. “There is a clear demand to keep the newfound flexibility of work for better access to employment and a better work life balance. It allows people to reduce their carbon emissions by not forcing them onto traffic choked roads. It helps the local economy as the more people we have working here, the more money is being pumped into our local indigenous business.”
