Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second the amendment. This comes after subsection 5, which states that if a trade union that is party to the agreement is no longer substantially representative of the workers concerned, the court may cancel the agreement. Could the Minister of State clarify how this applies? I have dealt with the Labour Court on many occasions over the years. Some businesses are fully unionised, which is of benefit, but I have seen others with some employees who were in the union and some who were not, or, worse still, some who were in one union and others who were in a different union, which meant that the company would get caught in inter-union rivalry, with one trying to outbid the other. In many cases, the consequence was job losses as a result of unnecessary conflict within the company. It is important that cohesion is built into the system. It is for that reason that I am putting the question to the Minister of State.