Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to put on the record of the House that I have no direct role in the resolution of this dispute or similar disputes. However, I do ensure that the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, are equipped and resourced to handle industrial relations disputes that arise. I believe they continue to serve the country very well. They have settled many difficult disputes in the past, as Members of the House are aware.

As the House is well aware, this dispute at Tesco relates to proposed changes to pre-1996 employee contracts for around 230 of the 14,500 staff employed at Tesco. In situations such as this one, I would always advise and encourage parties to use the offices of the WRC and the Labour Court. We can all welcome the fact that the parties have continued to do so on this occasion.

There was an extensive process of engagement and negotiation which culminated in August 2016 in the WRC making its own proposals for resolution of the issues at the request of the parties. Those proposals were accepted by Tesco but rejected by the union side as they were not acceptable to their members.

The matter was then referred to the Labour Court. In November, the Labour Court recommended that the parties should engage in a locally based process over a period of eight weeks in an attempt to allow settlement at local store level. The court recommended that the process should be guided generally by the content of the WRC proposals. If that did not succeed, the Labour Court recommended that the WRC proposals should then be accepted as the means of national resolution of the issues. Tesco accepted the Labour Court recommendation. The union side rejected the Labour Court recommendation and did not engage in this local process.

After balloting its members, Mandate served strike notice on Tesco and industrial action commenced on Tuesday, 14 February at eight stores. Union ballots for action continued up to Friday last, 24 February. It is reported that Mandate had balloted members in 45 stores, with 22 voting in favour and 23 voting against strike action. Tesco indicated at the time that all of its 148 stores would continue to remain open despite the industrial action going ahead.

The Labour Court, having previously issued its recommendation, which included a number of processes that still have not occurred, initiated contact last week with IBEC and ICTU and invited those parties to a general discussion relating to the dispute.

Last Friday, 24 February, the parties voluntarily agreed to take part in talks under the auspices of the Labour Court and they should be given time to resolve this dispute with the help of the industrial relations institutions of the State. I hope the Deputies can join me in encouraging all sides to make every effort to reach a resolution, by agreement, between the company management and the workers represented by their trade union.

As I said earlier, it must be remembered that this is a difficult industrial relations dispute; the company has not changed anyone’s contract unilaterally. The parties in this dispute are availing of the services of the State. They both jointly agreed to engage with the Labour Court last Friday. Mandate has suspended industrial action and the company has agreed to make no changes to contracts pending the outcome of talks. That is a positive sign from both sides and this move by the parties should be respected.

Our industrial relations institutions have been heavily involved in this dispute and relevant officials are continuing their involvement to assist the parties to resolve the dispute. All sides must now be encouraged to make every effort to reach a resolution by agreement between the company management and the workers represented by their trade unions. Both sides should now be given the time to resolve this dispute with the help of the Labour Court. That is extremely important as they are now talking even as we are debating the issue in the Dáil.

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