Vol. 397 No. 5
21 Mr. Carey asked the Minister for Labour if he has any plans to grant official recognition and status to the internal procedures of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, especially in relation to all-out pickets and other issues with an inter-union dimension such as poaching of members; if so, the way in which he proposes to grant such recognition; and the legal changes which will be necessary to give effect to it.
24 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Labour if he has any plans to grant official recognition and status to the internal procedures of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, especially in relation to all-out pickets and other issues with an inter-union dimension such as poaching of members; if so, the way in which he proposes to grant such recognition; and the legal changes which will be necessary to give effect to it.
40 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Labour if he has any plans to grant official recognition and status to the internal procedures of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, especially in relation to all-out pickets and other issues with an inter-union dimension such as poaching of members; if so, the way in which he proposes to grant such recognition; and the legal changes which will be necessary to give effect to it.
67 Mrs. Barnes asked the Minister for Labour if he has any plans to grant official recognition and status to the internal procedures of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, especially in relation to all-out pickets and other issues with an inter-union dimension such as poaching of members; if so, the way in which he proposes to grant such recognition; and the legal changes which will be necessary to give effect to it.
68 Mr. J. Mitchell asked the Minister for Labour if he has any plans to grant official recognition and status to the internal procedures of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, especially in relation to all-out pickets and other issues with an inter-union dimension such as poaching of members; if so, the way in which he proposes to grant such recognition; and the legal changes which will be necessary to give effect to it.
73 Mrs. Taylor-Quinn asked the Minister for Labour if he has any plans to grant official recognition and status to the internal procedures of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, especially in relation to all-out pickets and other issues with an inter-union dimension such as poaching of members; if so, the way in which he proposes to grant such recognition; and the legal changes which will be necessary to give effect to it.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 21, 24, 40, 67, 68 and 73 together.
In the Industrial Relations Bill, 1989, now before the House, I have attempted to take account of the all-out picketing policy of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. The issue was once again raised during Second Stage reading of the Bill and I am giving the matter further consideration.
As regards inter-union disputes, poaching and demarcation, the ICTU have established rules and machinery to deal with these issues which I feel work well.
Will the Minister accept that in the past decade the most troublesome disputes were those where there was at least one non-Congress union involved? Will he agree that there is a need for some mechanism to provide for inter-union disputes or disputes with employers which have an inter-union dimension? They are covered adequately when the unions are members of Congress but are not when one union involved is not.
If I understand the Deputy correctly he is saying that the mechanisms that Congress have, such as the industrial disputes committee, the demarcation tribunal and so on, are fine for Congress unions but are not for non-affiliated unions.
Will the Minister agree that Congress have no obligation for non-affiliated unions and that that is one of the key problems in industrial relations? Will the Minister agree that non-Congress unions where they are involved are not subject to any demarcation committee or any disputes procedure?
I will look at that issue. I should like to remind the Deputy that the definition of a trade dispute has been amended in the Bill before the House to exclude workers versus workers disputes and that will help. I accept that we have always allowed the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to deal with the other matters and that where there are non-Congress unions it raises a difficulty but I will have a look at that point.
Is the Minister as surprised as I am that judging from the number of questions it is obvious that many members read my Second Stage speech? Does the Minister agree that the all-out picket would be in jeopardy if the Bill is enacted in its present form? Does he agree that it will make a major contribution to ordering industrial disputes? Does he agree that it may not now be necessary to consider the balloting provision to apply only in respect of workers involved in the primary strike?
I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, not to take in any way from his lengthy and excellent Second Stage speech, that we have spent many months talking about this issue at official level and with representatives of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and of employers. Yes, there is no doubt about it but that the all-out picket policy which was born out of the maintenance strike in February 1969 has worked extremely well and we are very anxious that whatever we have in section 14 does not in any way break that. We are examining this issue following the contributions of Deputy Rabbitte and other Deputies to see what we can do. From what the Deputy said it appears to me that the idea of dropping section 14 altogether would be wrong because the practice of having a ballot prior to a strike is one that all Members who contributed to the recent debate are in favour of.
Will the Minister agree that the kernel of the problem is missed by the provision in the Industrial Relations Bill? Will he agree that there is not a real problem where Congress unions are involved because of the very effective procedures within that body such as the inter-union consultations, the all-out picket procedures and so on? Will the Minister accept that the problem really lies where there is one union outside Congress? There is not a mechanism to decide who should or should not ballot, who should or should not be consulted and who should or should not be granted an all-out picket. Will the Minister, therefore, not seek to bring forward amendments to his Bill to make the same provision for all unions as the existing Congress provisions make for their unions?
As I have stated, I will have a look at that provision but the matter is not as simple as the Deputy makes out. It is not just an issue of whether the unions are affiliated to Congress. In section 14 we are talking about everybody requiring a ballot but that would not apply in all cases, regardless of whether a union is affiliated to Congress. However, I undertake to have a look at the point made by the Deputy about Congress procedures, demarcation disputes and inter-union disputes.
And inter-union consultation.
