TENS OF thousands of workers in hotels, restaurants, retailing and other sectors would lose their legal entitlement to special Sunday premium payments under Government proposals to reform wage-setting mechanisms.
The proposals put forward last night by Minister for Enterprise and Jobs Richard Bruton are part of a plan to overhaul the system of setting minimum terms and conditions for sectors containing more than 200,000 workers.
Under the proposals, legally-binding employment regulation orders, which govern pay and conditions in the sectors, would no longer set a Sunday premium.
Instead workers in these sectors would rely on existing legislation such as the Organisation of Working Time Act, which provides for a range of ways by which Sunday working requirements can be recognised.
These include time off in lieu, a “reasonable allowance” or an overall pay increase to take account of Sunday work.
At present staff in sectors such as retail grocery, security and hairdressing receive double time for Sunday working. In other sectors the rate is time and a third or time and a half.
The proposals could also alter some workers’ existing overtime rates. Some rates could decrease and others increase as part of an initiative to standardise arrangements across the various sectors.
The proposals also say that the criteria for drawing up employment regulation orders would have to have regard for competitiveness factors, average hourly rates set in comparable sectors in Ireland’s main trading partners and levels of unemployment.
The proposals, which were issued to employers and trade unions last night, state that employment regulation orders would be confined to dealing with matters other than conditions of employment which are already covered by universally applicable standards established under legislation “eg deferring instead to the statutory provisions on rest breaks, Sunday working, leave arrangements”.
The Minister’s reform proposals in some cases go further than the recommendations in a report by Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy and Dr Frank Walsh of UCD which was published by the Government on Tuesday. This is mainly in areas where the authors said that recommendations would be beyond their remit.
Under the proposals all existing employment regulation orders will have to be reconstructed. There would also be provision to allow companies receive a derogation from the terms of an employment regulation order or registered employment agreement in cases of financial difficulties.
Employment regulation orders fix minimum pay and conditions in various sectors based on the deliberations of a joint labour committee comprising union and employer representatives and an independent chairman. The new proposals state that companies could be excluded from coverage in cases where there is a collective agreement at local level “even if the terms and conditions are less than would apply under an order made by the joint labour committee”.
The Minister’s proposals say that there should be a standardisation of benefits “in the nature of pay – including overtime – across sectors either by means of a nationally agreed social partnership protocol or, failing that, a statutory code of practice”.
Under the proposals, the existing 13 joint labour committees would be reduced by half and there would be a comprehensive review of the scope of all those remaining in place.
There would also be a new process for changing the terms of registered employment agreements “in certain circumstances without necessarily obtaining the consent of all parties”.
The Minister is seeking to have discussions with unions and employers on his proposals completed by June 10th with a view to bringing an action plan to Cabinet in the second half of next month.
