David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 8, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:“(5) An employer may subsequently apply to the Court to become party to the agreement in its application to any worker or workers to whom it applies.”.

During the pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill, both the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the TEEU called for a simple procedure to allow an employer who was not party to the REA when it was originally registered to be able subsequently to sign up. IBEC warned that employers might be very slow to enter into an REA if by doing so they would be exposing themselves to the REA being varied without their consent. This concern is not applicable in this instance as we are providing that an employer may apply to become party to the agreement that has already been registered. Therefore, the agreement itself will not be varied and an employer will simply be added to it. This was proposed by both the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the TEEU and in our view it is important to table this amendment.