I fully appreciate the distress the situation with P&O is causing for the affected workers.
Ireland has a strong suite of employment rights legislation to protect workers. It applies to workers – national and non-national - on board Irish registered ships. As I understand it, the general rule in relation to ships that are not Irish registered is the flag state, the state where the ship is registered, has exclusive right to exercise legislative and enforcement jurisdiction over ships on the high seas.
When an employer is proposing collective redundancies in Ireland, the Protection of Employment Act 1977 imposes a number of obligations on employers. These include an obligation to engage in a 30-day information and consultation process with employees’ representatives before any redundancies can take effect. The employer must also notify the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment of the proposed redundancies.
Employees have the right to refer complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission on a wide range of employment law breaches and to seek compensation, including where an employee believes a genuine redundancy situation has not arisen and they have been unfairly dismissed. A situation in which people are dismissed and replaced is not a genuine redundancy. Complaints can also be brought for breaches of the consultation requirements.
The Exceptional Collective Redundancies Act 2007 provided for the setting up of a Redundancy Panel, drawn from the social partners, for referring certain proposed collective redundancies to it to establish if the dismissals constitute an exceptional collective redundancy i.e. where there is a possibility of the collective compulsory replacement of workers by lower paid workers.
The Redundancy Panel would remain in force for three years only but could be extended by Statutory Instrument for a further period of three years subject to:
a. Both the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation having requested the extension, and
b. The Minister being satisfied that the continued operation would be conducive to the continued orderly conduct of industrial relations.
The operation of the Redundancy Panel was last extended up until 7 May 2019. No formal request was received prior to the end date of 7 May 2019 to extend the Redundancy Panel and accordingly it is no longer in force. Consultation with the social partners and new primary legislation would be required to establish another Redundancy Panel.
Ireland's workplace relations structures, a two-tier system involving the WRC and the Labour Court, has greatly improved the complaint adjudication and appeal process for employees. This in addition to the excellent service provided by the WRC conciliation, mediation and inspectorate functions.
