ICTU puts statutory union recognition on the table

In late 2002, for the first time, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) is set to demand that the government introduce legislation - similar to that recently implemented in the UK - obliging employers to allow workers to be represented by a trade union.

A special Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) working group recommended in autumn 2002 that the government should introduce legislation on trade union recognition, similar to that which has been in operation since 2000 in the UK (UK0201171F), where the law obliges employers to recognise trade unions for collective bargaining purposes after the latter overcome a series of technical hurdles.

Employer reaction to the call has been hostile. This will make the already difficult task of concluding a new national agreement to replace the current three-year partnership agreement, the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (IE0003149F), even more difficult to achieve. Talks on a new national agreement, at which the issue of recognition will now be firmly 'on the table', were set to commence in early November 2002 (IE0210202N).

The call for a statutory union recognition law is made in a report drawn by a special internal ICTU working group. Reviewing existing UK legislation on recognition, the report describes the situation there as 'generally positive'. It does, however, highlight certain 'limitations' in the UK legislation (UK0007183F), such as:

• the requirement that 40% of the total workforce electorate in the proposed bargaining unit, and not just a majority, need to vote in favour of recognition;

• the fact that, if they lose a case, unions must wait for three years before trying again; and

• the exclusion from the provisions of the legislation of firms with fewer than 21 workers.

Crucially, the working party recommends that the ICTU, '…in the context of any talks on a new agreement, seek commitments from the government for the introduction of new or amended legislation that would ensure that, where the union can demonstrate that a significant proportion of workers in a bargaining unit seek to be represented by a union, that the employer concerned will be obliged by law to facilitate that right by allowing their employees to be so represented.'

In opting for legislation, however, the ICTU working group said that it wants to retain the current 'right to bargain' provisions introduced under the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2001 (IE0209203F). These do not allow for trade union recognition, but provide for a series of procedures that may result in a binding Labour Court determination on specific workplace issues. The ICTU report argues that the timescale provided for these provisions should be considerably shortened, but the code of practice governing their operation should remain. Because they deal with disputes in situations where there is no collective bargaining, the 'right to bargain' provisions serve a 'separate purpose' to the issue of formal union recognition, the report states.