Trade union seeks redress on bargaining rights

A major trade union says it is a “national embarrassment” that shortcomings in the collective bargaining rights afforded to Irish workers were criticised by the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Speaking at his union’s biennial conference in Killarney, IMPACT president Kevin O’Malley said the collective bargain rights in this country were “seriously out of line with most developed nations, international standards, and European legal judgments”.

He said the International Labour Organisation’s Committee on Freedom of Association had called on the Government to review its legislation to ensure that international freedom of association and collective bargaining principles were respected in Irish law.