George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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48. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the actions that have been undertaken to implement the Adequate Minimum Wages Directive and to publish a National Action Plan on the Promotion of Collective Bargaining with respect to increasing collective bargaining coverage, facilitating trade union access to workplaces, and enhancing protection for union activists facing victimisation from their employer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50734/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages in the European Union was published on 19th October 2022 and was transposed in Ireland by 15th November 2024. No new legislation was required for transposition of the collective bargaining elements of the Directive in Ireland due to the existing legal framework in place which provides for collective bargaining.

Under Article 4, the Directive aims to promote collective bargaining on wages in all Member States. Each Member State in which the collective bargaining coverage rate is less than a threshold of 80 % (as in the majority of member states, including Ireland) shall provide for a ‘framework of enabling conditions’ for collective bargaining and shall also establish an Action Plan to promote Collective Bargaining by end of 2025. The Action Plan shall be reviewed at least every five years. The Programme for Government contains the commitment to finalise an action plan on the promotion of collective bargaining by the end of 2025, in line with the Directive. Work on developing the action plan in conjunction with the social partners, through a technical group, is currently ongoing.

The Code of Practice on Duties and Responsibilities of Employee Representatives sets out guidance for employers, employees, and trade unions which should be afforded to shop stewards in order to enable them to carry out their duties in an effective and constructive manner. The Code clearly states that employee representatives should be granted reasonable access to all workplaces where they represent trade union members and where such access is necessary to enable them to carry out their representative functions.

On protection against victimisation, Section 8 of the Industrial Relations Act 2004 outlines that victimising an employee for being or not being a member of a trade union or an excepted body or the employee engaging or not engaging in any activities on behalf of a trade union or an excepted body is illegal. Under Section 9 of the Act, the WRC may direct that the conduct which is the subject of the complaint should cease and make an award of compensation not exceeding 2 years remuneration. The Workplace Relations Commission’s Code of Practice on Victimisation refers to victimisation arising from an employee’s membership or non-membership, activity or non-activity for a trade union or a manager discharging their managerial functions or any other employees. It applies to situations where there are no negotiating arrangements and where collective bargaining has not taken place. A complaint under the Code may be made to the Workplace Relations Commission.

The work of the technical working group, consisting of Department officials and the social partners, will be essential in developing the content of the action plan. The capacity to engage effectively in collective bargaining is also key element of the Directive and the Government hopes to further support the social partners in this area.