Companies which refuse to recognise trade unions could be ordered to do so by the Labour Court if the Government accepts a report from its own High Level Group on union recognition. However, the report, a copy of which has been seen by The Irish Times, stops short of recommending fines or other sanctions on non-union companies.
It proposes that the Government bring in a code of practice on union recognition that the Labour Court could invoke against employers. The code would be drafted by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
The group includes senior civil servants and IDA and Irish Business and Employers' Confederation members, as well as members of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
While its proposals stop short of sanctions on companies which ignore Labour Court orders on union recognition, they provide for indirect sanctions. For instance, employees of a company which ignores a Labour Court finding could use this in evidence in any subsequent legal proceedings. This would make it much harder for companies to use legal sanctions like injunctions against employees or trade unions during recognition disputes.
The emphasis of the report is, however, on preventive measures. It argues against mandatory union recognition. Citing the experience of countries like the United States, Canada and Australia, it says: "Statute-based initiatives often tend to induce whole labour relations systems to become more adversarial and legalistic."
It proposes that a dispute over union recognition should be referred in the first instance to the LRC.
If this fails to resolve the problem, there should be a cooling-off period while the LRC's advisory service looks at the underlying problems. The LRC could also invite the ICTU and IBEC to become involved.
"In the event of issues remaining unresolved after the cooling-off period, the LRC shall make a written report to the Labour Court on the situation," the reports says. "The Labour Court shall consider the position of the employer and the union and shall issue recommendations on outstanding issues."
It also recommends that when the LRC drafts a new code of practice on union recognition, it should be made into a statutory instrument under Section 42 of the 1990 Industrial Relations Act. Such a code "should have the full support of all parties concerned". These would include employer bodies like IBEC and the IDA, as well as the ICTU.
Copies of the report have been sent to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney. Both are obliged, under Partnership 2000, to consider its recommendations and the introduction of measures to tackle the growing problem of union recognition.
The ICTU, and many of its affiliated unions, have warned the Government and employers that there will be no more national agreements if the problem of union recognition is not resolved. Last night some senior trade union sources said the report's recommendations might meet their minimum requirements, if it was implemented in full.
However, the Labour Party spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment, Mr Tommy Broughan, said the report "completely fails to tackle the problem of employers who refuse to recognise unions". He said the group should have recommended that the Labour Court be given the powers to set pay levels and conditions of employment in companies which refused to recognise unions.
The current dispute over union recognition at Ryanair, the closure announced before Christmas of the Seagate plant at Clonmel with the loss of 1,400 jobs and the threatened redundancies at AST in Limerick have all increased concern within the trade union movement at its inability to protect workers in some of the major growth areas of the economy. A recent survey of 18 companies investing in large-scale operations in Ireland (500 jobs or more) showed that only two had recognised trade unions. Besides the companies mentioned above, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Amstrad are among the large new employers which prefer to deal directly with employees.Indigenous firms such as Pat the Baker and Nolan's Transport have had bitter disputes over union recognition. Nolan Transport successfully sued SIPTU in the High Court for trying to force it to recognise a union. The case has been appealed to the Supreme Court by SIPTU.