Employment Rights

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 June 2017

Tuesday, 20 June 2017

Ceisteanna (183)

Bríd Smith

Ceist:

183. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 680 of 4 April 2017, if her attention has been drawn to the fact that a company (details supplied) does not recognise the trade union that represents the workers affected and instead claims that a works council based in Britain is the representative body; and if she will consider initiating a referral to the redundancy panel in relation to these redundancies should the workers concerned request this via their representative union in view of this fact. [28255/17]

Freagraí scríofa

Tánaiste and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

I can confirm that I received a complaint from a trade union alleging that the employer in question was in breach of the Protection of Employment Act 1977. That Act imposes certain obligations on employers where they propose collective redundancies. Officials in my Department have sought information from the employer to allow the complaint to be considered further and this process is on-going.

As I explained to the Deputy in response  to her earlier question, number 680 of 4 April, on the basis of clarifications provided by the employer to my Department, it would appear that the collective redundancies in question do not come within the meaning of exceptional collective redundancies. Furthermore, and again as I explained in response to the Deputy on 4 April, under the Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007 it is either the employees' representative or the employer who triggers whether a proposal to create collective redundancies should be referred to the Redundancy Panel. If it is the employees' representative that requests the matter to be referred to the Redundancy Panel, they must act with the approval of the majority of those whom they represent.