Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 17:

In page 21, to delete lines 3 to 9 and substitute the following:“(b) in section 41—

(i) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(3A) An employer or a trade union representative of an employer affected by an agreement specified in paragraph 29 of Part 1 of Schedule 5 may present a complaint to the Director General that an employer affected by the agreement has contravened the agreement and, where a complaint is so presented, the Director General shall, subject to section 39, refer the complaint for adjudication by an adjudication officer.”,

and

(ii) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (18):

“(19) In this section, references to specified person for the purposes of a complaint in relation to a provision specified in—

(a) paragraph 29 or 30 of Part 1 of Schedule 5, or

(b) paragraph 11 of Part 2 of Schedule 5,

shall be construed as references to a trade union representative of the person entitled to present the complaint.”,”.

The purpose of amendment No. 17 is to add to the Bill’s enforcement provisions a mechanism for an employer or a trade union representative of an employer affected by a registered employment agreement, REA, to make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission that another employer affected by the REA has contravened the agreement. Section 10 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969 had previously provided for such a mechanism. It is considered appropriate to continue to provide such a mechanism for an employer to submit a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission in such circumstances. Such a complaint regarding a breach of an REA will then be dealt with in the same manner as a complaint submitted by a worker.

As a consequence, section 10 of the 1969 Act will be repealed which has been provided for in amendment No. 3.

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