Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move:

“That Seanad Éireann:- welcomes official and other forecasts of continued economic growth and falling unemployment;

- believes that a growing economy should sustain well paid jobs, through which more citizens share in economic prosperity, and asserts that economic recovery must therefore translate into better working conditions and improved pay;

- notes that workers, aided by their trade unions, will continue to advance claims about pay and conditions and supports enterprise level and sectoral negotiation between workers and employers on pay and conditions of employment, through collective bargaining and agreement;

- notes that employer-labour bodies tasked with intervention in industrial relations disputes ceased to function with the collapse of national pay agreements;

- recognises the need for a new body representative of employers and employees to oversee the attainment and maintenance of industrial peace and stability and call on the Government to take steps with the social partners for the establishment of such a body, with the specific function of intervening in protracted industrial relations disputes to guide them towards a managed resolution;

- calls in particular for the intervention of such a body in the ongoing Dublin Bus dispute with a view to resolving the matter before greater disruption is suffered by commuters and greater economic damage is suffered by both parties to the dispute; and

- noting the level of subvention of public transport services in all comparable European cities, calls for a roadmap towards restoration of the public subsidy of Dublin Bus to pre-crisis levels.”

I am pleased to move the motion on behalf of the Labour Party. The motion seeks to provide a route map towards the satisfactory resolution of the Dublin Bus dispute. It also seeks the introduction of a new mechanism, designed to complement and support the work of the Government and our excellent industrial relations institutions, to promote and sustain fairness in the workplace and attain industrial peace. Rather than sitting on the sidelines and making political capital from a complex industrial dispute, we in the Labour Party wish to be constructive and helpful. No worker withdraws his or her labour if he or she feels there is a better alternative. Nobody wants to see businesses and jobs damaged as a result of disputes that, if alternative approaches and responses were considered, might have ultimately been avoided.

I am pleased to see the trade unions and Dublin Bus management engaged again on a formal basis at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and we are all hopeful that a resolution can be reached. For a host of reasons, the Labour Party supports the Dublin Bus workers and we support their right to seek better pay and conditions by collectively bargaining with their employer. This is at the core of what we believe in. That is why during my own short term as Minister of State with responsibility for employment, I was pleased to have introduced new collective bargaining legislation and frameworks for the creation of registered employment agreements and new sectoral employment orders.

The new system is working well. It is working in the longer term interests of Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann workers. Last Monday week, a new registered employment agreement, REA, was registered with the Labour Court and signed by Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, SIPTU, the National Bus and Rail Union, NBRU, the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association, TSSA and Unite. The new agreement, the terms of which are legally binding, states that in the event that contracts are awarded to another operator as a result of a tendering process, no current employee would have to compulsorily transfer to the new operator. It also guarantees, in that context, that in the eventuality that a transfer were to take place, the current terms and conditions enjoyed by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann staff would not be negatively affected as a result of the tendering of any services that might occur.

This important development for the long-term security of bus workers would not have been possible without the legislative action taken by the Labour Party in government. We deal with the reality of the world as we find it, and not just how we would like it to be. While the circus performers, as I have often described them, on the populist left see industrial disputes and the fomenting of angst and discontent as an end in itself, the Labour Party and the vast bulk of the trade union movement are in the business of providing solutions to the complex problems confronting our society and economy.

Regrettably, the prospect of a winter of discontent is coming down the tracks. This chilling vista appears to be coming into view partly because of the incapacity on the part of the Government to make even the most basic decisions. Nobody expects the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to intervene directly in an industrial dispute. It would be unwise and would set a bad precedent. We have sophisticated and respected industrial relations, IR, institutions and this machinery is available to everybody to address difficult IR issues in a professional and expert fashion. The WRC and the Labour Court have served, and continue to serve, the State extremely well.

Sometimes, industrial disputes are about much more than pay and terms and conditions. Rumbling in the background of this dispute is a fear that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, is at best unsympathetic and at worst downright ideologically hostile to the idea that we should have commercial semi-State companies providing public transport in the first place. Five months into his job, the Minister has still not outlined his priorities for his Department or his personal priorities. Given his performance to date, we can only conclude that public transport is not one of his priorities.

In order to stem the crisis of confidence regarding support for our public transport sector, the Minister must develop a roadmap for the restoration of the Dublin Bus subvention to pre-crisis levels and ensure Government support for our public transport providers is at a level that is at least comparable with analogous cities across Europe. A decent public transport system that is well managed is vital for the economy of our capital and for social cohesion. Collectively, every Member of the House wants it.

The Labour Party believes good, accountable, value-for-money public services are worth paying for. We call on the Government to set out a sustainable funding model for Dublin Bus in order to allow it plan for the future with confidence. This is one key contribution the Minister, Deputy Ross, can make towards a sustainable resolution to the Dublin Bus dispute. Given the dysfunctionality that, unfortunately, characterises the Government, it needs all the help it can get to manage the complex social and economic problems that face the country. To that end, the motion also calls for the establishment by the Government, with the social partners, of an employer-labour conference. Would the Dublin Bus dispute have escalated to this point if such a body had been in existence in recent months? I sincerely doubt it.

I reiterate my hope that the Dublin Bus action can be resolved at the WRC. I wish colleagues who are in the trenches addressing those issues well. We are all proud of the valuable work done by the WRC and the Labour Court on a daily basis. All too often, the State's IR machinery is mobilised in crisis situations when the gulf between the actors is so large as to be unbridgeable. This kind of body is more necessary now than ever before.We are in a period of political flux and uncertainty. The space available for wise heads to prevail has diminished considerably in recent times. Such bodies, comprising experts from both sides of industry, namely, trade unions and employer bodies, are a permanent and important feature of the industrial relations and economic and social development landscape in a number of progressive northern European countries that we sometimes aspire to be like, for example, Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland. Like Ireland, they are small, open market economies that trade with the world day in, day out and are consequently more open to shocks and tremors than many other countries.

The employer-labour conference model would work by forging a consensus around the major policy challenges facing this country and would support and complement the work of the WRC and the Labour Court. It would assist, not hamper, the work of a Government that is sadly in office but not in power. An employer-labour conference could be deployed to deal with major policy questions such as Brexit, the impending pensions crisis and the question of how we fund our critical public services such as transport. This model was in place in the 1970s and 1980s before it was subsumed into social partnership, with its last iteration a few short years ago being the National Implementation Body. The creation of this type of body would help to attain industrial peace and have a utility beyond public transport disputes. We are all hopeful that the current Dublin Bus dispute can be settled at the WRC in everyone's interests.