asked the Minister for Labour if he has considered the submission on the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 made by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in April 1988; if he will introduce the reforms sought by the ICTU; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Unfair Dismissals Act.
8.
I have examined all the submissions on the Unfair Dismissals Act, including that of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which were received following publication of my Department's discussion document in November 1987. I am at present circulating my proposals to Government Departments for their views and I will put final proposals to the Government for decision on receipt of these views.
Will the Minister accept that at present at least 20 per cent of the workforce is not covered by the Unfair Dismissals Act, and does he intend in his submissions to the Government to include the proposal that we cover all of the workforce? Is it intended to ensure that whatever proposals arise from submissions in that area will enable us to sign the ILO Convention in relation to the termination of employment? I think it is Directive No. 158 of 1982.
I have not got the details on that, but I will let the Deputy know. We are considering the position. There are a great number of submissions from various organisations. The question of the number of people covered is one of the matters being discussed. We are trying to broaden the legislation to cover as many categories as possible.
In view of the fact that it is virtually impossible for an employer to get rid of a lazy employee, does the Minister intend to review the Unfair Dismissals Act to ensure that it is not so restrictive?
That is a separate question.
As a counterbalance to our Progressive Democrat friend here, may I ask the Minister to ensure that membership of a trade union will not lead to automatic dismissal as has occurred time and time again?
Let us stick to the subject matter of the questions before us.
Would the Minister agree that the principles of the Unfair Dismissals Act are as valid and desirable today as they ever were? Has the Minister given any consideration to the impact they might have on recruitment to employment? Can the Minister say to what extent does the Act act as a disincentive to recruitment to employment?
We are having a widening of the scope of this question.
The question asked by Deputy Mitchell is probably the major issue in the review because it has been stated over a number of years by employer organisations that the Act is a disincentive. A survey was carried out by the ERSI last year and employers were interviewed in detail on this. They stated that the difficulty is that an employer cannot now tell a person to leave at a moment's notice without justification or because of one isolated incident. An employer must follow what the Act sets down. The Act is needed now as much as it ever was because, for instance, in the area of part-time work there is considerable abuse in the area of unfair dismissals. That is why we are reviewing the legislation and why we agree that there is a need for it. In some regards it makes lazy employers do a bit of work in order to get rid of lazy workers. There is nothing wrong with that.
To what extent does this Act encourage black economy employment or encourage employers to resort to things like contract work or consultancy work?
The employer organisations and the trade unions will say that those things occur for reasons other than unfair dismissals legislation. Looking at the number of part time workers one can see that there has been a shift to contract or consultancy work, but it is not just because of unfair dismissals.