Cabinet approves collective bargaining laws

The Cabinet has given the go-ahead for legislation which will allow trade unions to seek pay increases for workers even where their employer does not recognise collective bargaining.

Unions say the proposal could help improve the terms and conditions of employment for thousands of Irish workers.

According to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation, the laws will ensure that, where an employer chooses not to engage in collective bargaining either with a trade union or an internal representative body, “the 2001 Act will be remediated to ensure there is an effective means for a union, on behalf of members in that employment, to have disputed remuneration, terms and conditions assessed against relevant comparators and determined by the Labour Court if necessary”.

It will also ensure that if an employer chooses to collectively bargain with an internal ‘excepted body’, as opposed to a union, that body must pass tests as regards its independence.

Welcoming the move, Siptu vice-president Patricia King said the legislation will also protect workers seeking to exercise their right to collective bargaining, as well as restricting attempts by employers to incentivise people against using it.

“Where workers are not currently covered by collective bargaining this legislation provides access only for trade unions to process claims on their behalf,” she said. “This will restore the balance in the worker-employer relationship.”

Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg said: “The absence of a proper framework for collective bargaining since the infamous Supreme Court decision in Ryanair (2007) has been a major impediment to trade unions trying to advance the pay and conditions of workers. Collective bargaining is an essential requirement of the workplace if growing inequality in society is to be arrested.”

In the Ryanair case, the Supreme Court ruled the Labour Court could not conclude a trade dispute was in existence without first establishing that collective bargaining was in place and that internal machinery, if any, for resolving the perceived issue had been exhausted.