Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This Bill, when passed, will represent an important milestone in the history of the trade union movement in Ireland. It will restate, enhance and promote the role and relevance of trade unions in civil society. Enhancing the role and place of the collective bargaining process in the workplace and putting it on a stronger statutory footing will have beneficial impacts on the lives of individuals and their families, and will also be a broadly civilising force in society.

The introduction of the measure at this time causes us to evoke the memory of the origins of the trade union movement in the nineteenth century, the era of the industrial revolution. It was an era in which the character, shape and location of work changed fundamentally. The new work settings of factories could be brutal places, with brutalising experiences. It was the trade unions that intervened. They had a transformative impact, civilising the workplace, giving workers a say in pay and conditions and creating workers' rights. The agents of that transformative process were the trade unions.

Today, the character of work is once again changing rapidly. Work settings are changing. Old practices, technologies and established attitudes are being set aside or abandoned.

Some employers see these new work settings as fresh opportunities to reassert their authority and become the sole arbiter over workers' rights, their wages and conditions of employment. They want to have the final say on levels of pay, conditions in the workplace, on terms of employment, etc. This can become a hazardous environment for workers’ rights. It is also an opportunity, however, to restate and renew some of the historical truths about pay conditions, etc. The Minister of State’s proposed new measures will be a vital instrument in that progressive process.

I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Nash, for his dedication to this cause. Society is lucky that we have someone of his calibre with a deep and long history of experience in trade union activity and of thinking creatively about trade unions in the changing environment. If we did not have someone of the Minister of State’s calibre bringing forward this legislation, we would be losing important rights not just for workers but for all of us and civil society.

See this speech in context