Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Workplace Relations Bill provides a statutory basis for a new structure which will see the existing five State bodies replaced by two. The Labour Relations Commission, the National Employment Rights Authority, the Equality Tribunal, functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal and functions of the Labour Court will be replaced by the new workplace relations commission. The functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal will be transferred to a newly expanded Labour court.

I welcome the Government's decision to reform the existing employment rights and industrial relations structures because the current system for resolving individual disputes related to the workplace is wasteful in terms of State resources and those of the users. It is also very frustrating for employees, employers and the professionals representing them. The system that developed over the past 60 years had become unwieldy, complex, inconsistent, slow and, in some cases, expensive for users.

The aim of the Bill is to create a modern, user-friendly and world class employment workplace relations system which will provide significant benefits for its users and society as a whole. The focus will be on resolving the workplace disputes as quickly as possible. The aim is to create a system characterised by increased emphasis on and assistance with early and informal resolution of disputes. One body, the workplace relations commission, will deal with disputes initially. Employees with multiple complaints will have all complaints dealt with in one place at the same time.

Employers will no longer have to defend complaints in a number of fora and there will be one route and a time limit for all appeals as well as far speedier listing of cases for hearing and issuing of decisions. There will be standardised procedures and timeframes across employment rights legislation and better and quicker ways of enforcing awards, which I particularly welcome.

In addition to enhancing the service provided, the reform of the workplace bodies has the potential to reduce staff numbers and the associated cost of delivering the service. It is expected that savings will amount to €2 million per annum, mainly due to efficiencies and reductions in cost.

The legislation will provide for the merging of the services of the Equality Tribunal, the National Employment Rights Authority, the Labour Relations Commission and functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal under the workplace relations commission. The Labour Court will deal with all cases on appeal. The creation of the position of director general of the WRC will provide a singular leadership rather than the four that exist currently in NERA, the EAT, the LRC and the Equality Tribunal. The WRC board will have responsibility for strategy and annual work programme. The board will comprise primarily representatives of employer groups, trade unions and equality bodies. The WRC itself will be staffed by officials from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

The transfer of the information provision functions relating to the family leave Acts will move from the Equality Authority to the new WRC and certain procedural matters, such as limitation periods and the length of time within which a decision made in the first instance may be appealed will be standardised across the full range of employment rights legislation. There will be a new more robust and efficient system for the enforcement of awards under employment legislation and overall there will be better enforcement of employment rights awards and better compliance and enforcement of measures for employment rights, which I very much welcome.

I have been concerned for some time that the industrial relations mechanisms of the State were overly complex and this new legislation will do a great deal to streamline that. As a Labour Party Deputy, I welcome a far better deal and faster justice for ordinary workers where industrial relations issues arise and where outside assistance is required to find a resolution.

The Minister of State, Deputy Gerald Nash, has been working on legislation such as this since his appointment and his work with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, embodies this long-term commitment to the rights of workers and a better, fairer and more efficient set of industrial relations mechanisms. I welcome the Bill.

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