Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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89. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide an update regarding joint labour committees, JLCs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6155/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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On 28 January last, I signed Orders to give effect to recommendations of the Labour Court Review of the ten existing Joint Labour Committees, which I had published in October 2013. The Orders provide for:

1. The abolition of two Joint Labour Committees

- Dublin Hotels

- Law Clerks

2. Amendments to the existing Establishment Orders in respect of:

- Contract Cleaning

- Hairdressing

- Hotels (non-Dublin and Cork)

- Security

Effecting the recommendation concerning the Agricultural JLC will require amendments to primary legislation and my officials are currently engaged with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on how best to implement this. Legal advice obtained during the drafting of the proposed Order for the Retail Grocery JLC indicated that it would not be appropriate for me to proceed with amending the scope of the Retail Grocery JLC as recommended by the Labour Court. The effect of this is that the existing Establishment Order governing the Retail Grocery sector remains in place.

With regard to the two catering JLCs, I accepted the recommendation that the existing scope and structures remain in place and that one person be appointed to chair both JLCs. Accordingly, it was not necessary for me to make Orders in these instances.

Since the Orders were signed, the Labour Relations Commission has been asked to nominate Industrial Relations Officers to fill the vacant chairperson and deputy chairperson positions on each JLC. I expect that those nominees will be appointed in the coming weeks. It will then be a matter for the Labour Court, under the Industrial Relations Act 1946, to ensure that equal number of representatives of workers and employers in the relevant sectors are on each of the JLCs.

It is important to remember that the JLC Establishment Orders will provide only a framework within which employers and employee representatives can come together voluntarily and negotiate terms and conditions of workers in their respective sector. For vulnerable workers, the advantage of JLCs is that they see fair terms and conditions such as wage rates, sick pay etc. agreed and given effect by Employment Regulation Order, while for some employers, the advantage of the JLC system, based as it is on the principle of self-governance, means that they can agree and set minimum pay and conditions, agree on work practices which are custom-made to their industry – a flexibility which cannot be achieved by primary legislation. Where both parties to a JLC see commonality of purpose and outcome then an agreement may emerge. This process sits very much within the context of Ireland's voluntarist system of industrial relations.