Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

From listening to the Minister's response to what we have said here that there has to be an incentive to accept an agreement, it is quite possible that he was never in a trade union. I think he is an accountant, so that is quite possible. I will tell him how it works. A deal is negotiated between a union and bosses. The deal is then put to a person who votes on it. That person can accept or reject that deal, depending on how he or she perceives it. If a person rejects it, or if a majority rejects it, then the matter goes back to the drawing board with an employer, or one accesses the industrial relations machinery, such as the Workplace Relations Commission, or the Labour Relations Commission in its day. If it is accepted, the minority that refused to accept it is stuck with it. Those people are paid it. They are not told that they can go to hell and stick with the other agreement and that because the others were good boys and girls, they will get the new one while those who rejected it do not. That is what we call collective bargaining. The Minister has just driven a coach and four through those rules. He clearly does not understand how trade unionism has traditionally worked or else he wants to create a new form of trade unionism à la Paschal Donohoe. That is exactly what he is trying to do here.

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