Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I am not aware that there is a practice of trade union representative blacklisting by employers in Ireland. I would consider blacklisting of workers for whatever reason as an unacceptable practice – particularly if it arose in relation to workers exercising their rights to take part in trade union activities. The Deputy will be aware that there are already legislative protections in place where workers are victimised by an employer for trade union activity.

Section 6(1) of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 (as amended) provides that, in general, a dismissal shall be deemed to be unfair unless an employer can prove that there were substantial grounds justifying the dismissal. In addition, Section 6 also deems certain dismissal situations to be unfair as well as outlining certain criteria on which dismissals may be adjudicated as fair. One type of dismissal situation deemed to be unfair is referred to in Section 6(2)(a) of the Act which indicates that a dismissal is unfair where it can be shown that the dismissal resulted wholly or mainly from an employee’s trade union membership or activities, either where those activities take place outside working hours or at those times during working hours when permitted by the employer. While, in general, an employee must have been in the same employment for at least a year in order to bring a claim for unfair dismissal under the Unfair Dismissals Acts, one of the exceptions to the one-year service requirement includes dismissals falling under section 6(2)(a) of the Act.

In addition, the Industrial Relations Act 1990 (Code of Practice on Victimisation) (Declaration) Order 2004 provides that where there is a dispute in an employment where collective bargaining fails to take place and where negotiating arrangements are not in place, no person, be they union representative, individual employee or manager, should be victimised or suffer disadvantage as a consequence of their legitimate actions or affiliation arising from that dispute. A procedure for addressing complaints of victimisation in such cases is set out the Industrial Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004. A complaint for breach of this legislation may be presented to the Workplace Relations Commission who can enforce rights breached. That Code of Practice was amended in October last year to include as a form of victimisation the use by employers of inducements (financial or otherwise) designed specifically to have an employee forego collective representation by a trade union.

The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 also provides for enhanced protection for individuals who are victimised as a result of invoking the provisions of the 2001/2004 Industrial Relations Acts through a trade union or for acting as a witness or comparator for those provisions.

If there is evidence that this is a widespread practice – and to date I do not have such evidence on the matter – I will be happy to consider the matter further with both sides of industry.

If the Deputy has any information regarding blacklisting of workers in Ireland, he might bring it either to my attention or to the Data Protection Commissioner.