A potential deal between employers and unions is starting to take shape, writes Chris Dooley
After six weeks of apparently fruitless negotiations, the outline of a possible new partnership programme is finally beginning to emerge.
As employer and union representatives prepare to resume talks at Government Buildings today, there is for the first time a sense of optimism that a deal can be done.
Whether the deal will "fly" - in other words secure the acceptance of the constituencies represented by the two sides - is another matter. But there is a dogged determination on the part of both sides to at least agree a deal which would then be brought back to their members for either approval or rejection.
As previously reported in The Irish Times, the parties have essentially been deadlocked over a single issue since talks formally began on February 2nd.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions wants a raft of new legislation to underpin employment standards and combat exploitation of migrant workers. Employers bodies Ibec and the Construction Industry Federation indicated that they could live with measures to improve enforcement of existing legislation. These could include the appointment of additional labour inspectors, for example, or perhaps greater penalties for employers found guilty of abuses.
But new legislation which would increase the "regulatory burden" on employers would not be tolerated, they warned.
Intensive efforts to find a compromise will be made over the next couple of days, and much work remains to be done. But the shape of a potential agreement is starting to become discernible.
On the enforcement front, the Government is expected to produce a package of measures - possibly as early as today - designed to meet at least some of the unions' concerns.
A dramatic increase in the maximum penalties for rogue employers is on the cards, likely to be of the order of €100,000.
At least 20 additional labour inspectorate posts - there are currently 31 - are also expected to be created, while the inspectorate itself is likely to be established on a new footing.
Unions want it removed from the control of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Minister Micheál Martin is not opposed to such a move in principle.
Agreement on enforcement issues, however, was always going to be easier to achieve than a deal on new legislation.
Employers have made the maintenance of a flexible market a "bottom line" in the negotiations, arguing that new employment laws would scare investors away.
But it now appears that a deal might be achievable in one legislative area of key concern to the unions, namely collective redundancies.
Ictu has argued since last autumn that if the partnership process cannot prevent a repeat "on land" of what Irish Ferries did at sea - that is, replace existing staff with migrant workers on much lower rates of pay - then partnership is simply not worth having.
While Ibec insists that the Irish Ferries case was unique, given that its workers are employed at sea, it has indicated a willingness to engage with Ictu on this issue. What Ictu wants is a mechanism to prevent employers from making workers "redundant" simply to replace them with others on lower rates of pay and inferior conditions.
A proposal being considered is that when a dispute arises in such a case it could be referred to the Labour Court for a binding determination. Employers have indicated that such a measure could be entertained by them.
But they would oppose any measures designed to hinder employers from outsourcing or "offshoring" jobs as suits their business requirements.
While agreement on the redundancies issue at least looks possible, Ictu's demand that new legislation be introduced to ensure that workers are paid the "going rate" for a job is less likely to gain acceptance.
Ibec remains steadfastly opposed to such a measure, arguing that the existing minimum wage of €7.65 is already among the highest in the EU and that a new wages "floor" is neither required nor desirable.
Whether union leaders would be able to "sell" a deal to their members in the absence of such a provision is a question for another day.
In the meantime, a strong push to crack the employment standards nut will begin today. If significant progress is made this week, the parties could then move on to the pay issue, which has hardly featured in the talks to date.
If all goes according to plan, the basis of an agreement could be in place by the end of the month. Little in this talks process, however, has gone to plan to date.
