In reply to parliamentary question no. 160 put down by the deputy on 7 November last, I outlined the position in relation to the Labour Court Recommendation 21574 referred to by the deputy.
Labour Court Recommendation LCR 21574 was made under the Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2015 and published on the Court’s website at www.workplacerelations.ie. The Court's Recommendation followed a referral to the Court under Section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969. While referrals under that Section of the Act requires the referring party to agree to be bound by the Court’s Recommendation, there is no obligation on the other party to be bound by, or to accept, the Recommendation. In the current instance, the responding party, as is their right, did not attend the hearing of the Court and the Court did not have the benefit of their views in framing its Recommendation.
On the separate issue of trade union recognition that the deputy has raised, it is the case that Article 40 of the Irish Constitution guarantees the right of citizens to form associations and unions. It has been established, however, in a number of legal cases that the constitutional guarantee of the freedom of association does not guarantee workers the right to have their union recognized for the purpose of collective bargaining.
It has been the consistent policy of successive Irish Governments to promote collective bargaining through the laws of this country and through the development of an institutional framework supportive of a voluntary system of industrial relations that is premised upon freedom of contract and freedom of association. There is an extensive range of statutory provisions designed to back up the voluntary bargaining process.
The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2015 which came into effect on 1 August 2015 provides an improved framework in this area to facilitate employees’ right to engage in collective bargaining. The 2015 Act provides a clear and balanced mechanism by which the fairness of the employment conditions of workers in their totality can be assessed where collective bargaining does not take place.
It ensures that such workers, aided by a trade union even where the trade union is not formally recognized by the employer, can advance claims about remuneration and conditions of employment and have these determined by the Labour Court based on comparisons with similar companies. It provides definitions of key terms as well as guidelines to help the Labour Court identify if internal bargaining bodies are genuinely independent of their employer, and it provides policies and principles for the Labour Court to follow when assessing the comparability of the remuneration and conditions in dispute.
Ireland’s system of industrial relations is essentially voluntary in nature, and responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers, rests primarily with the employer, the workers and their representatives.
As an independent adjudicative body, the Labour Court has discharged its statutory function in this matter and as Minister, I have no function in relation to this issue.