SIPTU has been engaged in a three-year battle to represent six employees of the European Commission, and it may take a decision of the Council of Ministers to resolve the dispute.
In 1996 SIPTU first sought to represent the women, who are employed as clerical staff, or "local agents", by the European Commission in Dublin. They joined the union in order to improve their conditions.
While these are significantly better than those of Irish civil servants in comparable grades, they are much poorer than those enjoyed by the Commission's permanent staff in Brussels.
There are 17,000 permanent staff working with the Commission and only 217 local agents in EU member states. The 217 local agents are entitled to join one of the five trade unions representing permanent staff and vote in union elections of representative committees.
However, a spokesman for the largest of the Commission's trade unions, Union Syndicale, said yesterday that he was aware of only one local agent, in Spain, being a member of the union. He accepted that, as their numbers were so small, these employees have no effective representation in Brussels.
The EC unions in Brussels negotiate pay and conditions. Staff committee representatives (Committe Locale de Personnel) elected directly by the permanent staff oversee implementation of the agreements. In the case of local agents the relevant committe representative negotiates the terms without any reference to the trade union or workers concerned.
It took SIPTU from 1996 until December 1998 to secure a review of pay, pensions and annual leave for the women in Dublin. The union was allowed to present information to the Commission, but its members never met or spoke to the member of the Committe who negotiated on their behalf.
Instead they were presented with an agreement which increased their current maximum from £25,000 a year to £26,200, but extended the time it would take to reach that maximum from 30 years to 40. They were not impressed.
Three weeks ago SIPTU managed to have direct negotiations with the Commission management at the Labour Relations Commission. The Commission has decided to allow the Labour Relations Commission to look at ways of improving the pension scheme for local employees in Dublin, but it remains to be seen if it will allow the LRC, or indeed the Labour Court, any jurisdiction on other issues.
A spokesman for the Commission said yesterday that the terms of employment for staff were set by the Council of Ministers and supersede national legislation. He speculated that it might be possible "to leave room for local adjustment" - or it might not.
In the latter case it would take a decision of the Council of Ministers to allow local unions such as SIPTU to represent local agents.