Amendment No. 2 is consequential on amendment No. 1, so we will take those together, by agreement.
Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill, 2000 [ Seanad ] : Report Stage.
(Dublin West): I move amendment No. 1:
In page 3, lines 5 to 7, to delete all words from and including "MAKE" in line 5 down to and including "EMPLOYERS" in line 7 and substitute "REQUIRE EMPLOYERS TO RECOGNISE AND NEGOTIATE WITH TRADE UNIONS AND EXCEPTED BODIES".
What are the provisions for speaking rights on Report Stage?
The Deputy, as mover of the amendment, can speak, then he has a further two minutes to speak and he then replies, so he may speak on three occasions. Other Members may contribute but if they contribute a second time they are limited to two minutes. Only the mover may make a third contribution.
(Dublin West): I will not go over all the ground traversed on Committee Stage regarding this amendment but I will look deeper into the Minister of State's objections to my amendment on Committee Stage. He quoted the Constitution and a High Court judgment known as the Abbott and Whelan case. The purpose of the amendment is to amend the Long Title of the Bill and to make it a Bill which would require employers to recognise and negotiate with trade unions and excepted bodies. Amendment No. 2, if put into law, would have the effect of compelling an employer to recognise and negotiate with a trade union or excepted body where such trade union or excepted body notifies the employer in writing that it represents part or all of the work force who are its members.
I remind the Government that the genesis of this Bill occurred after the Ryanair strike, which is now notorious in the memories of trade union activists and workers in general, when a recalcitrant employer absolutely refused to negotiate with the trade union representing the baggage handlers. Unfortunately, the Government, in discussion with the bosses' union, IBEC and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, it must be said, watered down the original intention of the Bill and changed it into meaningless legislation. I have studied this further and discussed the matter with others since Committee Stage and am now convinced this is useless legislation.
The Minister of State voted down my amendment, which would have required a full-blooded trade union rights recognition Bill to be brought into law, and he justified this by citing the Abbott and Whelan High Court judgment in 1980. I have looked into the background of that case and its constitutional implications. Abbott and Whelan were workers for the Southern Health Board and moved from the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union to the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union. The Southern Health Board refused to negotiate with the ATGWU so they took the case to the High Court and asked the court to compel the Southern Health Board to enter into negotiations with them through the ATGWU.
Debate adjourned.