Results 4,981-5,000 of 6,623 for speaker:Gerald Nash

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I appreciate that Deputy Tóibín was unavoidably detained. I have given a lot of consideration to this and have an open mind as to how improvements could be made in terms of enforcement and compliance. We need to acknowledge that there has been a lacuna over the last few years, since the McGowan judgment. We have seen the effects of that, particularly in one industry which has...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: What I have not heard in Deputy Peadar Tóibín's contribution to the debate is reference to the fact that all sides of industry have welcomed the general structure and reintroduction of SEOs. In recent years there has been a gap and exploitation has occurred. That is my view and I have said it publicly before and will say it again. The reintroduction of a system such as this can...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 2:In page 5, line 20, after “Part 3” to insert “, other than section 35,”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 3:In page 5, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following:“Definitions 2. In this Act—“Act of 2015” means the Workplace Relations Act 2015; “Minister” means the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: There is no need to amend section 7 along the lines proposed in the amendment. The purpose of the amendment is to allow an employer to sign up to an existing REA as a new party. Section 8 already provides a mechanism by which an REA can be varied in its application to any worker to whom it might apply. The variation provisions under that section will allow for an application by a new...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: We have considered the matter over time and that is the advice we have received. It is the parties which are subject to the agreement that need to vary it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: The advice we received was that parties subject to an agreement might not agree that additional parties should be subject to it. That is the advice we have received and the position we have taken and I do not intend to change it.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: It is not necessarily the case that an employer would like to sign up to an REA, given that employers can develop their own REAs. There is flexibility to allow this to happen. It must be a dynamic system. This might address the Deputy's concerns, which I understand. Nothing is preventing an employer from working with his or her employees to develop an REA that would be exclusive to them,...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: It is an agreement.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 5:In page 9, lines 20 and 21, to delete “Labour Relations Commission” and substitute “Workplace Relations Commission”. The purpose of amendments Nos. 5 and 6 is to change the reference to “Labour Relations Commission” in section 8(5) and 8(6) to “Workplace Relations Commission”. This arises following the enactment...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I do not think it will become the default option. I understand the Deputy’s concerns. We have ironed this out. It has been the subject of much discussion between employers and trade unions and everybody is satisfied with that provision, but I do not expect it will become the default position.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 6:In page 9, line 22, to delete “Labour Relations Commission” and substitute “Workplace Relations Commission”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: Section 9(5) of the Bill provides that the Labour Court may cancel the registration of an employment agreement if it is satisfied that a trade union that was a party to the agreement is no longer substantially representative of the workers concerned. The purpose of amendment No. 7 is to require the court to give three months’ notice to the trade union of its decision and to allow...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I understand where the Deputy is coming from. There would, however, be a question about the appropriateness of allowing an REA to trundle along, as it were, for several months after the Labour Court had found that the trade union was no longer substantially representative of the workers covered by the agreement. That would pose all kinds of legal questions.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I am glad that the Deputy has acknowledged the protections that have been afforded to agency workers under the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012, which provides that an agency worker is entitled to the same basic working and employment conditions that apply to employees recruited directly by the hirer firm to do the same or a similar job. Everybody would welcome that....

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: It absolutely applies under the 2012 Act.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: Remuneration for what might be more correctly described as "travelling time" can be included in the terms of a sectoral employment order, SEO. Section 12 of the Bill provides for a definition of “remuneration” for the purposes of a Labour Court recommendation for the terms of an SEO. The definition is based on the definition of “remuneration” included in the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: In dealing with low pay, we should take into account the suite of measures I either have introduced or am preparing to introduce, rather than isolating particular legislation. The question of low pay and decent work should be addressed in its totality. Section 15 of the Bill sets out a comprehensive and challenging set of factors that the Labour Court must take into account when making a...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: In the absence of an SEO system, employers are only obliged to pay the national minimum wage. That is not something anyone would be prepared to stand over. The Bill sets out a robust range of factors to ensure standards are improved in the industries to which SEOs apply and that rates of pay are well in excess of minimum wage. We should also be mindful of the other measures I have...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015: Committee Stage (18 Jun 2015)

Gerald Nash: I move amendment No. 11:In page 15, line 13, to delete "The Minister shall" and substitute "Subject to subsection (4), the Minister shall". Amendments Nos. 11 and 12 are linked. The standard provisions dealing with the laying of orders before the Oireachtas have been included in the published Bill but following advice from the Office of the Attorney General, it has been decided that in...