EMPLOYERS’ GROUP Ibec has warned that any move by the Government towards a system of mandatory trade union recognition would be unconstitutional and cost Ireland jobs.
It also rejected suggestions that the passing of the Lisbon Treaty and the introduction of the Charter of Fundamental Rights could lead to employers having to recognise trade unions for collective bargaining purposes.
In a submission sent earlier this month to a Government-appointed review group on employee representation, Ibec said that a move to mandatory trade union recognition would “have a negative effect on the willingness of international companies which have operations here to retain them in Ireland, and it would have an even more negative effect on Ireland’s ability to attract new foreign direct investment”.
The new review process, which was established under the social partnership deal reached last autumn, is considering legal and other steps required to allow employee representation arrangements in previous agreements to operate as intended.
The issue of recognition for collective bargaining purposes has become hugely important for trade unions following a Supreme Court ruling in 2007 in a case involving Ryanair. The unions believe that this ruling emasculated compromise legislation drawn up in 2001 and 2004 which gave them limited rights to represent workers in non-union companies. However, in its submission, Ibec said the Ryanair judgment did not destroy the effectiveness of the 2001 Acts, but rather imposed fairer standards, consistent with constitutional rights, on those (primarily the Labour Court) interpreting and implementing them.
“The standards imposed by the Supreme Court are consistent with the will of the Oireachtas as expressed in the 2001 Act; it was the trade unions and the Labour Court which tried to depart from the letter and spirit of the Act. In essence, the effectiveness of the current legislation remains untested because trade unions have, for tactical reasons, sought to abandon the legislation. Employers should not be penalised because of this failure,” it said.
Ibec maintained that the legislation remained fully intact and the facility still existed to seek to achieve improved terms and conditions for union members.
On the question of the Lisbon Treaty’s impact on union recognition, Ibec said speculation on the issue seems to arise from the provisions of article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which refers to a right of collective bargaining and action.
This right is extended to both workers and employers, recognising that this is a two-way process, addressing different interests which will sometimes conflict.
“Article 28 further provides for a right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements, and where conflicts arise, to take collective action, including strike action,” Ibec claimed.
Ibec said that the rights provided by article 28 were stated to be “in accordance with community law and national laws and practices”. It said that this meant that member states would continue to exert considerable control over how collective bargaining and strike action are regulated.
“Ireland has extremely robust legal provisions, including those enshrined in the Constitution dealing with freedom of association, which influence how collective bargaining is exercised in this jurisdiction. Our courts have recognised a corollary of that freedom – a freedom not to associate.
“Nothing in article 28 (or elsewhere in the Lisbon Treaty) can be read as requiring Ireland to make any provision for mandatory trade union recognition or as undermining the fundamental constitutional right of an employer not to recognise a trade union,” it said.