Results 441-460 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 16: In page 6, lines 24 to 25, to delete subsection (1) and substitute the following new subsection: "(1) 'Employees' representative' means such trade unions as are representative of the employees or where there is no such trade union, such persons that are directly elected by the employees in the undertaking.".

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 20: In page 6, lines 29 to 35, to delete subsection (3) and substitute the following new subsection: "(3) A trade union or excepted body who has members in the undertaking and employees in the undertaking shall be entitled to nominate persons for election to the employee forum.".

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 24: In page 6, between lines 43 and 44, to insert the following new subsection: "(6) If the Court finds that the complaint referred to it under subsection (5) is well founded it may direct the respondent to take measures which may include the organisation of new elections.". This amendment specifically provides that in circumstances in which a court receives a complaint...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: While I accept that the Bill does not place constraints on the recommendations a court may make, it strikes me as sensible to explicitly provide that a court be able to direct that another election be held. Nevertheless, I am happy to accept the Minister of State's assurance that this option is already sufficiently provided for in the Bill.

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 25: In page 7, before section 7, to insert the following new section: 7.—(1) An employer shall enter into negotiations with the representatives of employees to establish information and consultation arrangements. (2) Within 6 months from commencing negotiations, the parties shall agree to establish an information and consultation arrangement by means of— (a) a...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: What sort of good practice would be excluded if we removed these words?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: What sort of practices are involved?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: Would it be fair to say that if we removed the words, one would be required to deal with representatives in order to satisfy the directive?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I do not have any difficulty with the proposed amendment. I would like the Minister of State to outline why he has chosen to use the term "undertaking", rather than the term "establishment", in this legislation. The relevant EU directive allows member states to choose between the terms. Having read the directive's definitions of both terms, the distinction is not terribly clear to me. It...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I do not want to be unduly harsh on the Minister of State but it is frustrating when a question in asked and the answer is "It is this way because other people have agreed it". I am asking why the Minister of State chose to use the term "undertaking" rather than "establishment" in the Bill. Perhaps the social partners have agreed on this but I would like to know the Minister of State's view.

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: Is the word "undertaking" more restrictive than that of "establishment"?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: Why?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: It would help if we understood the distinction, which is not clear. I get a sense that the term "establishment" would infer a broader definition than that of "undertaking". If so, why did the submissions favour the term "undertaking"?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I did not understand that the distinction was as meaningful as that. Is the Minister of State suggesting that, for the sake of argument, the definition of "establishment" for a major supermarket chain would apply to each individual supermarket whereas the definition of "undertaking" would apply to the supermarket chain as a whole. Is that reasonable?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: Perhaps I have unwittingly wandered into an area which is more interesting than I thought it was. I would have thought it was best practice to deal with employees at workplace level. For example, the staff working in factory A, located in Dublin, should get information relevant to them and this should be dealt with by their employers in their place of work, whether the factory is owned by the...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: My name is also on the amendment and my motivation was somewhat different, inasmuch as I specifically seek to effectively remove any reference to thresholds in section 11. Section 11 effectively also has a threshold which is required to get around the direct system of providing information. Since the thrust of some of the amendments in my name and that of Senator O'Toole is to eliminate that...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: Does the reference to threshold in this section also refer to section 11 or is it merely a reference to section 4?

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: I second the amendment proposed by my colleague, Senator O'Toole. It concerns the definition of "appointed" in section 1, which states that the word "appointed" means, "in the absence of an election, appointed by employees...". The word "employees" is plural and therefore the appointee would be appointed by more than one person, that is, by ten, 20 or 30 people. Perhaps I am missing some...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: We must acknowledge the reality that legislation will be largely troublesome in multinational corporations where there are no unions and where there will frequently be no agreed basis for appointment. In such circumstances, we must ensure employers do not pick some soft employee of their choosing in circumstances where there is really no representative way in which to deal with employees. It...

Seanad: Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005: Committee Stage. (12 Oct 2005)

Derek McDowell: Is it proposed to vote on them all separately?