The Government’s failure to legislate for the transposition of the European Union Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages has been described as “disgraceful and unacceptable” by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu).
The directive set out mechanisms for ensuring the adequacy of minimum wages including the promotion by governments across Europe of collective bargaining coverage, something unions here see as key to improving private sector membership which has been in steady decline.
The deadline for transposition was Friday, the 15th but the Department of Enterprise and Employment has said the advice of the Attorney General is that no legislation is required and so none is planned. This is in line with the arguments previously put forward by business representative group Ibec.
Ictu general secretary Owen Reidy, however, says the Government is in breach of its obligations under a directive the adoption of which it had supported in Europe.
“The directive is about the state being obliged to promote collective bargaining so workers and employers can negotiate in the workplace and at sectoral level to improve living conditions,” he said.
“The cost of living is, and remains, a critical issue for workers and the electorate. Collective bargaining is the answer. We expect and will demand that the next government transpose this crucial directive and the Irish trade union movement will not rest until it is fully and properly transposed.”
Unions have argued greater collective bargaining is important in countering the rise of the far right as it provides a mechanism for workers’ to be heard and for their terms and conditions to be improved, countering claims of disenfranchisement.
“If the incoming Irish government want the ‘centre to hold’ as we hear so often then they need to promote ambitious policies for workers, remove the employers’ veto and ensure that any worker who wishes to access collective bargaining in the private sector can do so without fear of reprisal,” said Fionnuala Ní Bhrógáin, a senior official with the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and vice-chair of the Ictu’s private sector committee.
Separately, trade union, Unite, said “the directive sets a collective bargaining target of 80 per cent, while it is estimated that collective bargaining coverage in Ireland is just 34 per cent”.
“The EU directive highlights the role played by collective bargaining in raising wages and combating low pay. One in five Irish workers are officially classified as low paid.”
Irish Business and Employers Confederation’s (Ibec) executive director, Maeve McElwee, however, recently said she did not expect any “significant sea change” with regard to engagement with trade unions and suggested it was not as pressing an employer issue as EU legislation tends to be implemented more fully in Ireland than in other members states where a greater portion of any change envisaged would be left to local engagement.
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