Business group Ibec has claimed that the introduction of mandatory trade union recognition would deter multinational companies from creating jobs in Ireland.
At an employment law conference in Dublin today, Ibec disputed a suggestion that the Lisbon Treaty created a legal requirement for a law change in Ireland.
Ibec director Brendan McGinty said flexibility in industrial relations was “more important than ever” in light of attempts to bring about an economic recovery.
“Mandatory trade union recognition or a legal right to collective bargaining would not create a single job in this economy and would instead threaten many thousands of jobs by damaging our capacity to attract and retain inward investment,” Mr McGinty said.
Currently, workers have the right to join or form a union, however employers are not legally obliged to recognise the union in negotiations.
However, it has been suggested that 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, do oblige employers to engage with unions.
Ibec solicitor Loughlin Deegan said there was “nothing in Article 28” that could be read as requiring Ireland to legislate for mandatory trade union recognition. Ibec believes that member states still exert “considerable control over how collective bargaining and strike action are regulated”.
Trade unions were divided on the Lisbon Treaty, with some unions opposing it on the grounds that it did not satisfactorily protect the rights of workers.
In October 2009, Ibec sent a submission outlining its opposition to mandatory recognition to a Government-appointed review group on employee representation.
One third of employees in Ireland belong to a trade union, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). However, union membership is much less common in the multinational sector.
