Vol. 410 No. 7
12 Mr. Taylor asked the Minister for Labour if he will outline his views on greater participation in and access to information of enterprises, both indigenous and multinational, by persons employed in those enterprises; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As Minister for Labour I have always encouraged employee participation and the development of the rights of workers to information and consultation regardless of whether the company is indigenous or multinational. Following the success of the PNR and the negotiation of its successor, the PESP, the benefits of the partnership and co-operative approach are apparent. I believe that there is now a general recognition that co-operation and consensus, rather than conflict, is the best approach, not only at national level but also at the level of the enterprise.
An FIE-ICTU joint declaration on employee involvement was published at the end of June. This is a timely and significant development, and gives a very strong signal to employers, unions and workers that employee involvement is the key to good industrial relations. I know that both FIE and ICTU are committed to the promotion of the contents and spirit of the document, and I hope it will encourage the development of involvement initiatives on a widespread basis in the private sector.
Even with the best will in the world, many workers do not know in which direction their company is going. Will the Minister agree that an informed worker is likely to be a more productive worker? At present there is a growth in the number of companies who do not permit their workers to be represented by trade unions. This particularly refers to the multinationals and as a result workers are excluded from any negotiations between the worker organisations and the trade union movement.
A question, please, Deputy.
Will the Minister agree that there is a need for legislation to protect workers who do not belong to organised trade union groups? The Bill dealing with worker participation did nothing to allay the fears of many workers as their representation is now below board level in many companies, which is a retrograde step.
The Deputy is making a statement.
Is the Minister prepared to introduce legislation to protect the workers who are excluded?
I referred earlier to the FIE-ICTU joint declaration and I do not want to be repetitive. Under the Programme for Economic and Social Progress the unions and employers agreed in the Labour Conference under the chairmanship of Basil Chubb that when they had dealt with worker participation they would look at the area of recognition of unions. That is an issue to which they will return in September.
Will the Minister agree that it is still the experience of a great many workers that in the private sector the companies, or their employers, only pass on information when the company are in trouble? The parameters of the Fourth EC Directive on Disclosure of Company Information exclude a great many Irish companies because of the criteria that must be met. Will the Minister agree that it is extraordinary to see a major, indigenous Irish company going to the extremes of shedding limited liability status in order to conceal information from employees of the company — and the public, which happened in the case of the Goodman group of companies?
I have made it clear what should happen — and what I think will happen — under the FIE-ICTU document. The Employer-Labour Conference will undertake the role of monitoring developments throughout the private sector. The Irish Productivity Centre has been designated as a national participation agency to act as a supportive organisation for those who attempt to develop specific approaches at company level. I believe — I have said it here many times — that companies lose by not sharing information because in the examples studied by the Galvin Commission a few years ago it was found that where people share information, not necessarily at board level, there are far fewer difficulties.
There is an increasing view, both internationally and within our companies, that when a mechanism is provided whereby people are able to share information about what is happening in a company, about the profits and about the problems and are able to hear that information up front, then there are much fewer difficulties. That is a procedure that could be well followed here, and I hope that it is followed. The document of FIE-ICTU sets out the models that should be followed and they recommend that role to their members.
