REACTION:THE GOVERNMENT does not intend to appeal yesterday's High Court finding that the joint labour committee wage-setting mechanism is unconstitutional.
However, Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation Richard Bruton insisted yesterday it was not Government policy to scrap joint labour committees, but to retain them in a reformed framework.
He said the Government’s approach would be two-pronged. It would introduce temporary protection for workers while working on a longer-term reform package.
In his first public response to the judgment, Mr Bruton said: “It is clearly for Government and for me, in consultation with Attorney General, to find an appropriate method to protect workers while we develop a reform system.
“It is not Government policy to scrap the JLC. Our policy is to retain the JLC but in a reformed framework.”
Mr Bruton said he had a preliminary discussion with Attorney General Máire Whelan yesterday about the ruling.
While saying the full judgment had to be studied, he also said it was not the Government’s preference to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, a response that was advocated by Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin yesterday.
“I think the judgment has raised issues of the frailty of the system. They are ones that can be remedied by a new piece of legislation and I think rather than appeal that, we should move towards having a robust reform package put in place and approved by the Dáil,” he said.
Some 180,000 workers in sectors such as restaurants, security and hospitality are covered by these agreements, some of which date back to the 1940s.
“It underlines what we have been saying that this system needs reform,” said Mr Bruton.
“The immediate priority for me will be to explore ways for protecting vulnerable workers who feel their position has been completely undermined.
“We need space to develop a balanced reform package and that’s what we are determined to do. JLCs needs to be reformed and modernised.
“We need a system that is fair and balanced and create opportunity for new employers.”
He said he was satisfied the Government would be in a position to present a clear and coherent plan on reforming sectoral agreements to the EU and IMF by the end of September, as is required under the rescue package deal.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said yesterday that the JLCs were an “edifice” of the State that had protected hundreds of thousands of workers.
Mr Martin urged the Government to appeal the decision as a matter of urgency.
“This is a a fundamental protection for low-paid workers,” he said.
Mr Martin said his party fully supported the recommendations of the Duffy-Walsh report and its recommendations to streamline the wage-setting mechanism.
He said Fianna Fáil did not support measures that would go any further than that.
Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tóibín said the decision would have huge implications for JLC workers throughout the State, who earned €18,000 per annum on average.
“We are calling on the Government to appeal this decision immediately to the Supreme Court and use every constitutional and legal tool that they have to ensure that the wages of the vulnerable JLC workers are maintained.
“If wages are reduced, it will push thousands to poverty,” said Mr Tóibín.
