Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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25. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he welcomes the fact that over 40,000 workers in the retail sector have sought and won, through their union Mandate, over €15 million in wage increases over the past 18 months; and if he supports legislation for statutory trade union recognition and collective bargaining. [12224/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am aware that, through a process of negotiations in line with Ireland’s voluntary system of industrial relations, Mandate, the trade union representing retail workers in Ireland, have concluded a number of collective agreements with individual employers in the retail sector providing for wage increases for their members.

A return to wage bargaining is visible in certain sectors of the economy, not just in retail. But it remains vital that our competitiveness is not eroded. It has been the consistent policy of successive Irish Governments to promote collective bargaining through the laws of this country and through the development of an institutional framework supportive of a voluntary system of industrial relations that is premised upon freedom of contract and freedom of association.

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to reform the current law on employees' right to engage in collective bargaining (the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001), so as to ensure compliance by the State with recent judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. With this in mind, in late 2012 I wrote to stakeholders inviting their observations on the matter. Submissions were subsequently received and a series of meetings took place with representatives from IBEC, ICTU, the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland and Chambers Ireland during 2013. Discussions with stakeholders are still ongoing. I hope to be in a position to revert to Cabinet soon.