Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for putting this matter on the agenda. I will provide background to my question on whether the Industrial Relations Act 1990 needs to be revised. Times have changed since it was introduced, as have working conditions and the strength of unions. How employers treat their workers has also changed. We have bogus self-employment and all sorts of issues being faced by workers.

Tesco is the largest private sector employer in Ireland and for the past four years it has been trying to break its workers' rights to trade union representation, as I highlighted by raising Project Black in the House in 2017 when the Tesco workers were on strike. As part of the campaign, Tesco has targeted 180 of its longest serving workers who were all employed before 1996. They have had pay freezes when everybody else in the company has had a pay increase of at least 8%. The Labour Court has issued three recommendations on this issue and instructed the company to pay those workers the 8% they are owed, which amounts to €1 million or more than €6,500 each. This is a lot of money for low-paid workers, many of whom are suffering financially and are experiencing extreme mental health issues as a result of Tesco's actions. It is also costing the State revenue in terms of expenditure on family income supplement and social welfare support for these workers and in terms of the loss of employers' PRSI, income tax and USC payments.

Why is it that highly profitable companies such as Tesco can make €215 million in profit per year in Ireland alone and can consistently ignore the Labour Court and victimise workers in this way? Will the Minister of State look at this issue in detail? In reply to a parliamentary question I asked on Tuesday, the Minister of State said:

Ireland’s system of industrial relations is based in voluntarism and it has been the consistent policy of successive Irish Governments to support the development of an institutional framework supportive of this voluntary system through which good industrial relations can prosper. In line with the voluntary nature of industrial relations in Ireland, recommendations of the Labour Court made under industrial relations legislation are not binding on the parties although it is expected that the parties involved give serious consideration to the Court’s Recommendation.

Not all parts of the Industrial Relations Act are voluntary. Mandate has a collective agreement with Tesco that places responsibility on both parties to use the WRC and the Labour Court to the best of their ability. Both parties have always agreed to attend the Labour Court through joint referrals under section 26. In recent years, Tesco has refused to engage, forcing Mandate to take the most recent case under section 20. This means the result is binding on the union but the company is free to ignore the recommendations. They are not binding on the company. This shows the company is proceeding with its plan to stop recognising unions. This must be seriously looked at by the committee or the Minister of State. Does he intend to review the legislation in the light of the changes that have happened in the past 20 years?

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. She has always been interested in industrial relations. As I have said in reply to parliamentary questions, Ireland’s system of industrial relations is essentially voluntary in nature and the responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers rests in the first instance with the employer, the workers and their representatives. It has been the consistent policy of successive Governments to promote collective bargaining through the laws of the country and through the development of an institutional framework supportive of a voluntary system of industrial relations that is premised on freedom of contract and freedom of association. There are an extensive range of statutory provisions designed to back up the voluntary bargaining process. The freedom of association and the right to organise and bargain collectively are also guaranteed in a number of international instruments that the State has ratified and which it is, therefore, bound to uphold under international law.

Since 1946, the Labour Court has provided an industrial relations service whereby disputes that parties have been unable to resolve themselves or with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission can be voluntarily referred to the Labour Court for an opinion in the form of a recommendation of the court, which, as the Deputy knows, is not binding on the parties. The vast majority of industrial relations recommendations are accepted voluntarily by the parties. The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015, which came into effect on 1 August 2015, provides a clear and balanced mechanism by which the fairness of the employment conditions of workers in their totality can be assessed in employment where collective bargaining does not take place and brings clarity and certainty for employers in terms of managing their workplaces in this respect. It also provides strong protections for workers who invoke the provisions of the 2001 and 2004 Industrial Relations Acts or who have acted as a witness or a comparator for the purposes of these Acts. It ensures that where an employer is engaged in collective bargaining with an internal excepted body, as opposed to a trade union, that body must satisfy the Labour Court as to its independence of the employer.

The legislation ensures the retention of Ireland’s voluntary system of industrial relations. However, it also ensures that where an employer chooses not to engage in collective bargaining, either with a trade union or an internal excepted body, and where the number of employees on whose behalf the matter is being pursued is significant, an effective framework is in place that allows a trade union to have the remuneration and terms and conditions of its members in that employment assessed against relevant comparators and determined by the Labour Court, if necessary.

While I am amending the Industrial Relations Act 1990 to ensure An Garda Síochána has access to the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court, I see no case for the Act to be amended regarding the specific issue to which the Deputy has referred.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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The final sentence of the reply should be challenged. There is a need for the Act to be amended on the specific issue I am raising. I have said very clearly that Mandate used to use section 26 whereby both parties voluntarily agreed to go to the Labour Court, but Tesco has refused to do this and Mandate has had to use section 20, which is binding on the union but not the employer. The Labour Court recommendation has been issued three times and the company is completely ignoring it. What is in the Industrial Relations Act to force the company to pay the 2% increase year on year? It means the Industrial Relations Act is not working for workers in a fair way.

The Minister of State is saying this is one case but there is an increasing prevalence of employers refusing to engage with workers through their trade union and an increase in an attitude whereby they are ignoring the State's industrial relations machinery. This is the State's industrial relations machinery, namely, the WRC and the Labour Court. In recent years we have had employers such as Tesco, Dunnes Stores, LloydsPharmacy and many other outlets with more than 20,000 workers all ignoring and disrespecting the Labour Court's recommendations. The Minister of State knows employers and their representatives have been blocking joint labour committees from engaging. This is a blatant two fingers to the Labour Court, the WRC and the State's industrial relations mechanisms.

As the Minister of State said, Ireland has always had a voluntarist industrial relations model. A voluntarist model can only work where two parties volunteer. As employers, the group with disproportionate power are now ignoring not only trade unions but the State, is it time for a different model of industrial relations? I ask that the Minister of State, in amending the Industrial Relations Act 1990 to provide for An Garda Síochána access to workplace relations, introduce amendments to deal with some of these issues.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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It would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing Labour Court recommendations. As I said, Ireland's system of industrial relations is voluntary in nature. The Deputy will be aware that responsibility for the resolution of all industrial relation issues lies with employers and workers and their respective representatives, as appropriate. It is important to make that point. We are very fortunate in Ireland in that arising out of the industrial relations system we have developed, there has been industrial peace in recent times. It has been the consistent policy of successive Governments to promote the development of an institutional framework supportive of the voluntary system of industrial relations. The Deputy will know there has been consistency among the social partners, and the terms and conditions of employment of workers have been best determined through the process of voluntary bargaining between employers and employees and between employers' associations and trade unions or staff associations. This approach has served us well down through the years, which we have seen in a large number of high-profile industrial disputes.

In general, our laws do not try to impose a solution on parties in a trade dispute. Rather, they are designed to help support the parties in resolving their differences. There will be differences. The State has, by and large, confined its role to underpinning voluntarism through the provision of a framework and institutions in order that good industrial relations can prosper. As I said in my opening statement, the vast majority of industrial relations disputes are settled voluntarily. Where an employer and employee representatives come together and enter a voluntary agreement to resolve their differences, that is a win-win for both sides.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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It is not a win-win in this instance.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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While I have no direct role in the matter, I stand by the professionalism of the industrial relations machinery of the State, which, as the Deputy knows, are always available to facilitate a solution where both parties are prepared to work in their institutions. I encourage the Deputy to have faith in the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission. They are doing a good job.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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The employers are refusing to implement Labour Court recommendations.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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As I said, as a Minister of State, I cannot comment on the matter.