Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Munster, the proposer of the Bill. I understand the motives behind it.

We have had discussions here already in the past few weeks. I note the Deputy is prominent in flagging the issues affecting local business. It is not just that as in general, the Deputy wants to bring forward the discussion as well.

I listened carefully with interest to both Deputies Munster and O'Reilly. I note that the Bill introduced by both essentially proposes an expressed statutory right for trades unions to have their representative duties to their members recognised for collective bargaining and disciplinary matters. It is proposed that this could be achieved primarily through an amendment to section 10 of the Trade Union Act 1941. The short Bill also proposes definitions of authorised trade unions and proposed that a new definition of collective bargaining be introduced to the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001.

I am not supporting the Private Members' Bill for the following reasons. The approach to industrial relations in Ireland is one of volunteerism, whereby the law will not seek to impose an obligation or a solution on the parties to a dispute but will, where appropriate, assist them in arriving at a solution. There has been a consensus that the terms and conditions of employment that exceed the statutory provisions of workers shall in general be determined by the collective bargaining process between an employer and employers' association and one or more trade unions or staff associations. This process can cover the entire range of issues arising from the employment relationship and I believe that the trade union movement is very well protected by the Constitution and by our laws as well.

Contrary to Deputy O'Reilly's assertion, we have a strong trade union movement in this country. It is very effective. I am not sure why the Deputy thinks it is not.

Dispute resolution in Ireland is based on the structures created by the Industrial Relations Acts. It is based on the concept of the parties voluntarily seeking to resolve their differences with the machinery being provided by the State.

The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 significantly changed the industrial relations landscape in Ireland. It reformed the law in respect of employees' rights to engage in collective bargaining so as to ensure Ireland's compliance with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

The 2015 legislation provides a clear and balanced mechanism by which the fairness of the employment conditions of workers in their totality can be assessed in employments where collective bargaining does not take place and brings clarity and certainty for employers in terms of managing their workplaces in this respect.

The 2015 Act already provides a definition for collective bargaining as being voluntary engagements or negotiations between any employer or employers' organisation on the one hand and a trade union of workers or excepted body to which this Act applies on the other with the object of reaching agreement regarding working conditions or terms of employment or non-employment of workers.

The 2015 Act ensures that where an employer does not engage in collective bargaining, an effective framework now exists that allows a trade union to have the remuneration and terms and conditions of its members assessed against relevant comparators and determined in a binding way by the Labour Court.

The process in the 2015 Act is designed to be compliant with the Constitution. It has been established in several legal cases that the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of association does not guarantee workers the right to have their union recognised for the purpose of collective bargaining. The right of association does not place any requirement on an employer to recognise or negotiation with any union. The implication is that although there is a right to form unions, this does not have the corollary right to recognition, negotiation or representation. Engagement remains voluntary. That system has served us quite well in most cases in our history.

The freedom of association and the right to organise and bargain collectively, as set out in Article 40 of the Constitution, is guaranteed in a number of international instruments which the State has ratified and which it is, therefore, bound to uphold under international law. Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the freedom of association, and this has been held to include the right to bargain collectively. To this end, as some Deputies may recall, the previous programme for Government contained a commitment to ensure that Irish law on employees' right to engage in collective bargaining is consistent with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Accordingly, An Garda Síochána was granted access to the State's dispute resolution bodies, the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC and the Labour Court, in early 2020.

There is a limited right to representation arising out of international cases under the European Convention on Human Rights. It is arguable that this right is restricted to representation in individual grievance and disciplinary cases and does not extend to the right of negotiation on terms and conditions of employment. The Supreme Court has remained firm in its support for the individual right to disassociate as a corollary of the right to associate. The comments of Mr. Justice Geoghegan in a 2007 Supreme Court case, Ryanair v. the Labour Court, indicate that it may not be possible to enact legislation obliging employers to deal with trade unions, certainly not in the manner proposed in this Bill.

The Government will continue to protect the robust measures that have already been put in place to support collective bargaining with a volunteerist industrial relations framework, which has served the State well to date. We also intend to augment the existing protections by prioritising a series of reforms to improve workers rights, including the introduction of statutory sick pay and a living wage.

I recognise that the Tánaiste has signalled - we discussed this in this Chamber yesterday, where the Seanad was sitting at the time - that he has already started that process to achieve the statutory sick pay scheme and has begun an engagement, through the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, with the relevant stakeholders, which will lead on to a more formal public consultation in November too. The Tánaiste is already acting in this area to progress conditions of work and protect the rights of workers. That is something to which the Tánaiste is strongly committed. Of course, members of the Opposition will argue that the Tánaiste is not but he will be proven by his actions. He has already taken swift action when it comes to introducing statutory sick pay, which we all recognise is an area that we need to make progress on.

For the reasons outlined above, I will not be supporting the proposal that the Bill be read a second time.

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