Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

This Bill transposes into law the provisions of the European Union directive on the establishment of a general framework for informing and consulting employees within the European Community. While the Government had committed itself to transposing this directive by March 2005, delays in transposing directives are nothing new. The greater concern in respect of the transposition of this directive into legislation is that it is not faithful to the spirit of that directive. In essence, that is at the core of my concerns.

Speaking in the House at the beginning of this debate, the Minister of State spoke of the extensive consultation which took place in respect of this legislation with the social partners, including the unions and employers' representatives. While he did not state whose views impacted most strongly upon the Government in drafting the legislation, this is easily discernible. The influence of the employers, or perhaps more accurately the anti-union employers who oppose any form of collective action by workers, is clear throughout the text. The Bill reflects the antagonism of American multinational corporations in particular towards dealing with workers as a collective body.

Before addressing the detail of the Bill, I place on record Sinn Féin's demand that a stand-alone Department of labour affairs be established to decouple labour affairs from enterprise, as there is a conflict of between the two areas. There is also increasing evidence that some civil servants in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are hostile to proposals to improve workers' rights. A good example of this conflict arises from the treatment of freelance workers by the Competition Authority, which comes under the Department's aegis. The Department refuses to change the definition of employee to address the plight of this group of workers and prevent them from being targeted by the Competition Authority. This is a clear illustration of the conflict which can arise from having labour affairs subsumed into a Department whose primary focus is on enterprise.

Workers' representatives have expressed serious concern and disappointment regarding this legislation. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, for example, has described it as "untenable in its current form" on the basis that the Government has adopted a minimalist approach to the information and consultation directive, namely, that advocated by employers. Trade unions have pointed out that the Bill in its current form will do nothing to aid workplace consultation or representation.

Although the Minister spoke of the partnership process, no commitment to real partnership is evident in the legislation. It appears odd to speak of partnership at a time when the displacement of workers through outsourcing and recruitment of underpaid migrant labour is developing into a prominent feature of the labour market and companies such as Irish Ferries and Doyle Concrete, to name but two, are tearing up recommendations issued by the Labour Court. The fact legislation is required to oblige employers to inform and consult their workers on matters of relevance to them is indicative of the failure of employers to embrace the supposed spirit of partnership. It is also a vivid illustration of the fact that social partnership, as implemented in this State, has not sought or achieved any real change in employer attitudes towards workers and trade unions. Despite years of workers making major sacrifices in terms of delivering industrial peace, many employers still maintain an inherent hostility to unions and collective negotiations.

It is Sinn Féin's position that workers must have the right to form and join trade unions, negotiate contracts of employment and picket and withhold their labour and that employers must recognise trade unions. If the Government and others were genuinely committed to having workers and employers work together, they would support the position that trade union recognition is necessary. Nothing in this Bill obliges companies to deal with trade unions. We need legislation to require companies to recognise organised labour. In non-unionised workplaces this legislation, as currently formulated, will have no impact. It should provide for collective consultation only.

The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, pointed out that the directive "leaves considerable discretion to member states in setting out national procedures". While this may be the case, serious questions are being asked and I am sure legal opinion will be sought on the basis of the real concern that the legislation is not true to the spirit of the directive. Given that issues regarding the process of selecting the employee representative were raised with the Minister of State on Committee Stage in the Seanad, he should be well aware of concerns that the legislation as framed would allow the employer undue influence on the selection of the employee representative. This is an undemocratic provision which would seriously hinder the effectiveness of the legislation. The Bill should not permit the appointment of a representative and the procedure should be confined to selection by an electoral process.

It is essential the legislation does not allow employers to cherry-pick employee representatives on the basis of who they believe they can control. Sinn Féin will seek to delete the definition of what constitutes an appointment. Section 1 states:

"appointed" means, in the absence of an election, appointed by employees, or appointed by the employer on a basis agreed with employees;

This definition is unacceptable and I challenge the Minister to reveal the extent to which he was lobbied by business representatives to have it included. Did the American Chamber of Commerce, for example, lobby for this provision which effectively allows employers to control the entire process of information and consultation?

Serious concerns have also been raised regarding section 7 and amendments have been sought to ensure employees in an undertaking which meets the employee thresholds, as defined by section 4, have an automatic right to information and consultation and that the employer would be required to enter into negotiations on arrangements for information and consultation. This provision will be important if the Bill is to make any real difference to workers. A range of other issues of concern arise from the legislation but time constraints prevent me from addressing them now. I look forward to discussing them on Committee Stage.

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