Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Ireland (Ratification: 1955)

The Committee notes the comments made by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in a communication dated 31 August 2009.

In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide its comments on the observations made by the ICTU in relation to restrictions on the right to organize and collectively bargain introduced by the Competition Authority of Ireland. The Committee recalls that the ICTU had stated that the Competition Authority had decided that the provisions of the Competition Act 2002 overruled the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act and had declared unlawful a collective agreement between Equity/SITP and the Institute of Advertising Practitioners that fixes rates of pay and conditions of employment for workers within radio, television, cinema and visual arts. The ICTU added that other relevant statutory provisions had also been overruled.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates that, during the course of the social partnership talks in 2008, it committed itself to introducing legislation amending section 4 of the Competition Act to the effect that certain categories of vulnerable workers, formerly or currently covered by collective agreements, when engaging in collective bargaining, would be excluded from the section 4 prohibition. According to the Government, this commitment took into account that there would be negligible negative impacts on the economy or on the level of competition and will have regard to the specific attributes and nature of the work involved, subject to consistency with European Union (EU) competition rules. Three categories of workers are proposed to be covered by the exclusion: freelance journalists, session musicians and voice-over actors. Recalling that the Convention requires the Government to take measures to encourage and promote the full development and utilization of machinery for voluntary negotiation between employers or employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements, the Committee points out that intervention by the authorities which has the result of unilaterally altering the terms and conditions agreed upon is, in general, contrary to the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide further information in its next report on the impact of the section 4 prohibition, in particular on the types of abuses targeted by this provision and the progress made in amending the Act in accordance with its commitment and in full consultation with the social partners concerned.

The Committee notes the extensive comments of the Government in response to the criticism by the ICTU of the decision of the Irish Supreme Court in Ryanair v. Labour Court and IMPACT, in which the union stated that the Supreme Court had upheld the operation of the Ryanair Employee Representative Committee, a committee operating under the control and domination of the employer, to exclude a bona fide trade union, and aimed at preventing a trade dispute being processed under the Industrial Relations Act 2001. In particular, it notes that in the context of discussions with the social partners reviewing the consequences of the judgement on collective bargaining, the judgement was viewed as having had the effect of substantially impairing the capacity of the arrangements which had previously been agreed upon to operate as intended. These also clarified certain aspects of fair procedure and natural justice applicable in such cases. The Government and the social partners, therefore, agreed to the establishment of a review process which would consider the legal and other steps which are required to enable the mechanisms which were established under previous agreements to operate as intended. According to the Government, this process will take account of issues of concern to both sides from their experience of the mechanisms to date, the necessity for fair procedures, and will take account of expert legal advice and international practice, where relevant. The Government indicated that the review, which had originally been intended to be completed by March 2009 so that the necessary legislation would be enacted in June 2009, only got under way in September 2009.

The Committee further notes the indication in the Government’s report that it intends to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit victimization and incentivization and to provide effective protection and means of redress to employees in relation to their trade union membership and activities, a matter being considered in tandem with the abovementioned review process. The Committee trusts that progress will be made in the near future to ensure that workers are fully protected in their right to organize as provided for by the Convention and requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard in its next report, as well as with respect to the steps taken to strengthen the existing legislation underpinning the Joint Labour Committee and Registered Employment Agreement systems.