Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not know whether the Deputy wants me to address the question he has just asked or the one he submitted.

The Government has responded to the needs of workers in many ways. We increased the minimum wage, introduced protections for agency workers and have restored the system of wage setting for vulnerable workers that had been ruled unconstitutional by the courts. We continue to develop good labour relations legislation and will soon publish the WRC, workers rehabilitation and compensation Bill, a major reform which will deliver better conditions for both workers and employers. I do not accept, therefore, the premise of the Deputy's preamble to his question.

On 13 September last, I obtained Cabinet approval to develop legislative proposals to reform the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 to provide for an improved and modernised industrial relations framework that will provide more clarity for employers and more effectiveness for workers in employment where collective bargaining does not take place. When enacted, this legislation will mark the fulfilment of the commitment in the programme for Government to reform the current law on employees' right to engage in collective bargaining to ensure compliance by the State with recent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

The legislation will provide a clear and balanced mechanism by which the fairness of the employment conditions of workers in their totality can be assessed where collective bargaining does not take place. It will provide clarity and certainty for employers in managing their workplaces over the years ahead. It will also explicitly prohibit the use of inducements by employers to persuade employees to forgo collective bargaining representation and will provide strong protections for workers who invoke the provisions of the 2001 to 2004 Acts or who have acted as a witness or a comparator for the purposes of those Acts.

The proposals are derived from a lengthy consultation process involving extensive engagement with stakeholders with a view to arriving at broadly acceptable proposals that will operate effectively in practice. The proposals have been welcomed by stakeholders such as IBEC and ICTU. They will ensure the retention of our voluntary system of industrial relations, but also ensure workers have confidence that, where there is no collective bargaining, they have an effective system that ensures they can air problems about remuneration, terms and conditions and have these determined based on those in similar companies and not be victimised for doing so.

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