I am pleased to bring this measure before the House particularly in view of the support it received in the Dáil from representatives of all parties.
Traditionally, industrial relations in Ireland have been portrayed as being somehow independent of the law of the land. It is certainly true that the law intervenes to a lesser extent in our system of free collective bargaining than is the case among many of our European neighbours. However, in so far as it delineates the framework within which industrial relations are practised, the law plays an important role in establishing a floor of rights on both sides of industry. It sets down minimum standards of behaviour for employers and workers, while leaving both maximum scope for negotiating pay and conditions of employment. This flexibility is the cornerstone of our industrial relations system.
The Trade Disputes Act, 1906, forms the basis of trade union law in Ireland. During the latter half of the 19th century, when the conflict between capital and labour intensified with the gradual spread of industrialisation, laws were enacted which protected the business interests of employers against offences such as conspiracy on the part of workers. These offences, in so far as they were committed in furtherance of a trade dispute, were eventually decriminalised in the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, 1875, but lawful trade union activities still remained actionable in the civil courts.
The introduction of the 1906 Act provided trade union members with legal protection for the acts of picketing, inducing breaches of contracts of employment, civil conspiracy and interference with the trade or employment of others.
Naturally, limits were set to these immunities, and the criterion for deciding if they applied was whether the acts done were carried out in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute. The Act also extended to trade unions themselves immunity from any legal action for damages. The Act of 1906 transformed the basis on which industrial relations were conducted. Since then, the Act has been modified only once. The Trade Union Act, 1941, confined nearly all of the immunities to trade unions holding negotiation licences and to their members and officials. The 1941 Act also made it an offence for any body, which was not an excepted body under the Act, to carry on negotiations for the fixing of terms and conditions of employment unless it had a negotiation licence.
The position now is that the main 1906 Act immunities apply to industrial action taken by members and officials of licensed trade unions "in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute". The Act defines a trade dispute as "any dispute between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment or with the conditions of labour, of any person". The term "workmen" is further defined as "all persons employed in trade or industry, whether or not in the employment of the employer with whom a trade dispute arises".
The aim of the Bill before this House is to resolve difficulties which have arisen as a result of this latter definition. The courts have held on several occasions that the phrase "trade or industry" has to be strictly construed and, accordingly, the protections of the Act have been interpreted as applying only to commercial employments. The result has been that the immunities of the 1906 Act have not been available to over 200,000 workers engaged in non-commercial employment. This Bill will remove the anomaly by providing for the deletion of the phrase "trade or industry".
From now on, the immunities provided by the Act of 1906 will apply to persons in all sectors of the economy, provided they are members of licensed trade unions. Members of the Garda Síochána and of the Defence Forces are excluded from the scope of the Bill before the House. The primary reason for their exclusion is that both bodies are governed by other codes of law which recognise their special status in relation to national security and the maintenance of law and order.
The Government have decided to introduce this measure because there is little justification for continuing to withhold the legal protections of the 1906 Act from a substantial part of the total workforce employed. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions have been calling for this piece of legislation for many years. Indeed, the absence of amending legislation was advanced as the reason for Congress withdrawal from the Commission on Industrial Relations. In order to remove what the trade union movement see clearly as a serious grievance, the Government have decided that the time has come to introduce this amendment and remove any obstacle to Government — trade union co-operation.
In return, the ICTU have assured me that they will enter into discussions as soon as possible on ways of remedying deficiencies in our industrial relations system, including those identified by the Commission on Industrial Relations. I would hope, too, that the Federated Union of Employers will re-consider their initial response to my call for discussions and avail of the opportunity to share in the shaping of our future industrial relations system, a system perhaps which will have to serve us over decades, a system that must be improved and can be improved, and can best be improved with the co-operation to which I refer.
I have already said in the Dáil that I will devote my time, energy and effort to ensure that both sides of industry, with the Government, can have meaningful discussions and make meaningful progress in providing for our young people, in particular, a better and improved industrial relations structure. Given our commitment as a society to the concept of free collective bargaining — all Members on all sides of this House have always supported that concept — I need hardly say that the maximum degree of consensus is needed before any reforms are undertaken. If we do it that way, it will be more meaningful and more advantageous and surely it will serve our community all that much better. I sincerely hope that I will have the full co-operation of employers and trade unions in the important task that lies ahead.
I commend this Bill to the House.