Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 38: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he has taken to date and the steps he will take in the immediate and longer term to ensure that the JLCs are put on a legal footing in view of the recent High Court judgement on JLCs. [21147/11]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 43: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the measures he plans to introduce to protect vulnerable workers following the recent High Court ruling on joint labour committees. [21066/11]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 50: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will give any assurances to low-paid workers covered by the JLC/REA system before the summer recess that their incomes and conditions will not be reduced as a consequence of the legislation that he is preparing in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21133/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 38, 43 and 50 together.

On 7 July, the High Court issued its ruling in a legal challenge, taken by John Grace Fried Chicken Ltd and others, to the Joint Labour Committee system and the 2008 Employment Regulation Order (ERO) covering the Catering Sector outside of Dublin. The High Court ruled that certain provision of the Industrial Relations Acts of 1946 and 1990 governing the making of EROs are unconstitutional and that the 2008 ERO constituted an unlawful and disproportionate interference in the property rights of the plaintiffs.

The High Court ruling does not prevent the establishment under law of Joint Labour Committees for the purpose of setting minimum wage rates and terms and conditions of employment for vulnerable categories of low-paid workers. Nor does it affect the operation of the 13 already established Joint Labour Committees. What has been declared to be invalid is the power of these JLCs to make regulations in relation to remuneration and conditions, as well as the power of Labour Court to make EROs on foot of an application made by a JLC, and the enforcement of all the Orders in place up until now.

Immediately following the judgment, I engaged in urgent consultations with the Attorney General and her Office to explore all legal options available so as to provide protection for workers previously covered by EROs. In particular, two possibilities were examined: enacting emergency legislation to provide temporary protection for workers pending enactment of comprehensive reforms, and appealing the judgment with the possibility at the same time of securing a stay of execution on its effects.

The fact that the process of making EROs has been found by the High Court to be unconstitutional together with the lack of adequate Oireachtas scrutiny of this process only underscores the need for reform proposed by the Independent Review Report on these statutory wage setting mechanisms.

The overall finding of the Report of the Review was that the basic framework of the current JLC/REA regulatory system requires radical overhaul to improve competitiveness. The purpose of the recommendations of the Report is to create a framework within which greater efficiencies and necessary adjustments in payroll costs can be achieved in the affected sectors.

As the Deputy knows, this Government has been determined to protect vulnerable workers by restoring the National Minimum Wage and by retaining the JLC mechanism but in a substantially reformed framework. The recent High Court judgment has made reform imperative and urgent.

The Government is determined to proceed with urgency to a substantial reform of the current JLC / REA regulatory system in order to restore protection to vulnerable workers and at the same time introduce necessary reforms to ensure that business can adapt to the difficult economic conditions and open up new job opportunities for people who have been particularly badly affected by unemployment.

The comprehensive reform proposals that have already been the subject of discussions with stakeholders and at Government will address the weaknesses identified in the High Court judgment, and will restore protection for workers in the relevant sectors.

The drafting of the necessary legislation will be given the highest priority.

My intention is that the new legislation will be introduced to the Dáil very early in the next term, with prioritised enactment to follow thereafter.