T8. Mr McHugh asked the Minister for the Economy what the 'good jobs' employment rights Bill will do to strengthen trade unions and enhance and secure workers' rights. (AQT 818/22-27)

One of the four themes of the consultation is "Voice and representation". That is to ensure that people have the rights to organise and to be represented by trade unions and that those rights become enshrined. The British Government have retreated from those rights in many ways over the past 14 years.

Thankfully, some of that has not happened here, so we are not in as bad a position as they are in Britain. However, we want to be sure that employees have the right to representation and the right to organise themselves. We are working through the consultation responses. Our intention is to draft legislation next year to reflect the outcome of the consultation.

Go raibh maith agat, a Aire.

[Translation: Thank you, Minister.]

Minister, recent research by the Respect at Work campaign and Queen's University suggests that union busting is rampant across the island of Ireland, with 69% of workers surveyed reporting consistent anti-union behaviour from employers. Are you confident that the "good jobs" employment rights legislation will prevent that type of anti-union activity in the North and empower workers by securing their rights?

We are going through the consultation responses at the moment. Those will, in turn, be put into the draft legislation. There will be an opportunity for the Assembly to process, debate and amend the legislation and to put it through the Committee Stage. We will ensure that we continue to hear from those who wish to provide representation for workers during the development of the legislation and its passage through the House in order to make sure that we give the strongest possible voice to workers.