SECURITY company representatives are lobbying intensively to be included in an opt-out clause in the Working Time Bill, which is due before the Dail.
The Irish Security Industry Association, representing companies, said that if the Bill becomes law, the right of employees to work longer than 48 hours a week would be taken away. Mr Kevin Malone, chairman of the lSIA's Manned Services Division, said yesterday that hourly-paid workers were being discriminated against.
If the Bill was enacted the consequent capping of voluntary overtime would drive workers into the black economy, on to the live register or into part-time employment, the ISIA claimed.
Mr Malone said: "We have to have a certain amount of flexibility among our staff. People have been accustomed by choice to work in excess of 48 hours a week."
The earning capacities of workers would be curtailed by up to £6,000 a year, he added. He said the association had a scheme of its own which was used to attain a Quality Assurance Certificate, ensuring that companies employed the correct number of staff.
He added that as part of a submission to the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Ms Eithne Fitzgerald, the ISIA would be prepared to be scrutinised by an ombudsman and submit employees to an annual medical examination, in return for being included in the opt-out clause.