An independent analysis of 'incoming' multinational firms investing in Ireland has found that only 13% are unionised. The finding is similar to that of a survey carried out in the mid-1990s, and indicates that trade unions in Ireland are having severe difficulties in attracting members in medium- to large-scale new enterprises whose headquarters are outside the country (IE0201260F [1]).[1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/impact-of-new-right-to-bargain-union-recognition-provisions-reviewed
A survey of foreign-based multinational companies investing in Ireland over 2001-3, published in early 2004, has found that just 13% of them are unionised.
An independent analysis of 'incoming' multinational firms investing in Ireland has found that only 13% are unionised. The finding is similar to that of a survey carried out in the mid-1990s, and indicates that trade unions in Ireland are having severe difficulties in attracting members in medium- to large-scale new enterprises whose headquarters are outside the country (IE0201260F).
The survey, carried out by the independent weekly journal, Industrial Relations News (IRN), was based on a list of companies grant-aided by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA). The total number of firms involved was 45, with a minimum employment level of 100 workers over a three-year period from the start of 2001 to the end of 2003. Of the 45 companies surveyed, survey responses were received in 39 cases. Only five of these cases involved unionisation. Four of the five were expansions of existing firms, with just one - a Japanese-based electronics firm, Ryusyo, located in Drogheda, Co Louth - being entirely new to Ireland. Ryusyo was the only unionised firm among 17 'greenfield' investments.
Comparing the new study with a similar IRN survey carried out in 1996 ('Non-union policies on the increase among new overseas firms', Fintan Hourihan, Industrial Relations News, 25 January 1996), which surveyed job-creation announcements by incoming firms over the two-year period 1994-5, the number of greenfield firms going the 'union route' was similar, at just two out of 32. However, on that occasion as many as 10 out of 18 expanding companies were going to allow jobs to be subject to union recognition. In the new survey, just four out of 22 expanding companies are unionised.
Another major change between the 1994-5 and 2001-3 period is the growth of the services sector, which now accounts for over half of the new jobs coming from overseas. While three-quarters of the companies in the mid-1990s survey were in the manufacturing sector, this had declined to 17 out of the 39 - about 43% - in 2001-3.
The USA is still by far the largest source of foreign investment, with 28 of the 39 job-creation announcements by foreign multinationals over 2001-3. Of the remaining 11, four were British, two each were from Japan, Germany and Canada and one was Swiss. Most of the non-US firms are 'non-union', indicating that a non-union approach is now an international one, even though it is more traditionally associated with US firms.
An interesting feature of the survey is that some of the firms announcing non-union jobs already have unionised operations in Ireland. In most cases, these firms had Irish manufacturing operations but were now establishing service centres.
Eurofound doporučuje citovat tuto publikaci následujícím způsobem.
Eurofound (2004), Unions fail to penetrate multinational sector, article.
