Mr. John Smith:

I am the CEO of the National Electrical Contractors Ireland, NECI. I thank the committee for affording us this important opportunity to make it aware of the opinions of our members regarding the proposed Bill.
NECI was founded in 2008 and we represent mostly smaller electrical contractors. Our members were significantly and negatively impacted by the previous registered employment agreement, REA. Despite the fact that we had no input into the 1990 agreement, and in fact were largely unaware of its very existence, large numbers of our members were brought before the Labour Court and forced to pay substantial back moneys to the construction workers pension scheme, CWPS, under its terms. The demands for these back moneys, some of which sums were in excess of €300,000, put many small contractors out of business. The strain of dealing with the Labour Court led to ill health for many others, and in fact we know of two contractors who took their own lives following enforcement of the 1990 electrical REA by the Labour Court.
All this was happening when there were no complaints from the contractors' employees. In fact it sometimes seemed to us that the sole purpose of the REA was to ensure compulsory membership of the CWPS. When NECI set up a competing pension scheme, every attempt was made to discourage membership and undermine an alternate pension scheme. It is a fact that nothing has changed in the 1990 electrical REA except upward pay rises in the 23 years of its existence.
NECI was at the forefront of the McGowan and others v. the Labour Court case which ultimately led to the Supreme Court declaring Part III of the 1946 Industrial Relations Act unconstitutional in its entirety. We welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court. We have been happily agreeing terms and conditions with our own employees on a one-to-one basis since 9 May 2013. Despite scaremongering by the unions, the industry has not descended into chaos and we have not seen mass exploitation of electricians. In fact contractors have, as was necessary, become more competitive and have used the flexibility they now have to streamline their operation.
Registered employment agreements by their very nature are inflexible and strangle companies when they need to adjust to meet demanding trading conditions. It is our opinion that the REA system is anti-competition and borders on cartelism. In an industry as diverse as the electrical contracting industry, it is universally accepted that a one size fits all agreement does not work. NECI is of the opinion that the 1946 Industrial Relations Act in its entirety should be consigned to the industrial relations bin. It has been amended a number of times, the last being in 2012, and is clearly not fit for purpose. The 1946 Act cannot deal with issues which exist in the Ireland of 2014. The industrial relations landscape today includes issues which were inconceivable to the legislators in 1946. If new legislation is required, and it is our opinion that it is not, it should be drawn up from scratch.
It is also our opinion that, while these global legally binding agreements might suit the large contractors who are forced to deal with unions, they are incompatible with small businesses which, in the main, employ non-union labour. NECI reserves the right to agree terms and conditions with our own employees on a one-to-one basis. While----