Trade unions have launched a campaign for a "new deal" including "significant" government financial assistance to rebuild the retail and distribution sector and to tackle low pay and insecure work.
"A New Deal for Retail and Distribution Workers" calls for the establishment of a Retail Stakeholders Group composed of unions, retail employers and relevant government departments to devise a new blueprint to help the sector recover when the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
The Irish of Congress of Trade Unions which represents tens of thousands of retail workers across the island of Ireland says that New Deal must embrace decent work standards, with priority given to improved pay and conditions, trade union representation, collective bargaining rights and access to training and upskilling.
The campaign document notes that retail and distribution companies employ 285,000 people in the Republic - around 13% of the overall workforce - though the pandemic could threaten up to 100,000 of those posts.
In Northern Ireland, retail accounts for almost a third of the region's workforce.
The Congress campaign document highlights that Covid-19 has hugely accelerated the ongoing shift to online trading, with footfall declining massively in major retail centres.
"Many of the changes seen during the emergency will not be reversed," it forecasts.
This has implications for people without technical skills, traditional town centres, bricks and mortar outlets and local authority revenue streams.
The Congress document also notes that some 70% of revenue from online sales goes overseas, which will ultimately hit the national tax take.
"Prior to Covid-19, the retail sector contributed some 23% of the State's total tax receipts - twice the contribution of the financial sector", it states, "...but that will be reduced as the shift online grows and revenue is diverted overseas".
The campaign document warns that the Government will have to deliver "significant" financial and policy assistance to rebuild the sector post-pandemic, and ensure fair competition between online trading and the traditional "bricks and mortar" High Street model.
However, under the Congress proposals, there would be no state aid for employers who ban trade unions, refuse to implement a fair pay model, and fail to make decent work a priority.
"State aid would only be available to those employers who agreed to implement the Decent Work Clause that includes action on pay, hours and union rights," the document states.
Congress says pay rates both North and South of the border must start at the rate of the prevailing living wage, with agreed minimum rates for public holidays and unsocial hours.
All employees would be entitled to at least one annual leave day above the legal minimum entitlement.
Unions also want retail and distribution workers to have at least four weeks notice of rostered hours, agreed top-up payments for state maternity or paternity benefits, a minimum of four weeks paid sick leave, a statutory right to training or reskilling.
ICTU also says every workplace should have the right to collectively bargain through a union.
The Congress Retail Sector Group is seeking urgent engagement with Minister of State Damien English, and urges all political parties to support the campaign.
The General Secretary of the retail union Mandate, Gerry Light noted that the pandemic had exposed how essential workers in retail and distribution were among the lowest paid with the weakest protections.
"This must change and this demand for change is supported by the workers, by a range of expert bodies and commentators and by political leaders. Indeed, it is an issue the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has also been vocal on," said Mr Light.
SIPTU Official Michelle Quinn acknowledged the enormous challenges facing the retail and distribution sector, including online trading, automation, and the new skills the future workplace will require.
"We now have an opportunity to break with the failed model of the past and build a sector that delivers quality jobs and growth. To do this successfully we need the voice, knowledge and commitment of workers to help shape and inform a new blueprint for this vital sector of our economy," she said.
The campaign was launched by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions along with retail and distribution unions representing tens of thousands of workers across the island of Ireland, including Mandate, SIPTU, Unite, USDAW and the GMB.
