The Irish Veterinary Union has agreed to drop its minimum fee scales for farmers, after being threatened with prosecution under the 1991 Competition Act.
The case could have implications for thousands of people in other occupations, such as medicine, architecture, teaching and the construction industry who work partly, or full-time, in a self-employed capacity.
The IVU accepted that agreements regarding minimum fees, the operation of any recommended fee system and the refusal to provide clinical services to farmers who failed to pay such fees was contrary to section four of the Act. The general secretary of the IVU, Mr Pat Brady, said later that no deliberate price fixing had been intended. "It was an attempt by a trade union, which we are, to recommend minimum guidelines for our members", he said. "We acted in good faith, but to our surprise we found ourselves to be in breach of the Act." The outcome of this dispute will not affect the rates negotiated by the IVU collectively for its members with the Department of Agriculture.
Last night the decision was welcomed by the chairman of the Consumers' Association, Mr Peter Dargan, who is a former president of the IVU. "I'm sorry it was the vets who were reported to the authority early on, but if it's the law of the land then so be it."
Mr Dargan described vets as "only in the ha'penny place. The authority should now examine other professions such as hospital consultants and barristers, or beef factories and banks." He congratulated the authority on the courage it had shown in pursuing interest groups like the publicans. The latter are also under investigation for price fixing under sections four and five of the 1991 Act.
However, Mr Conal Devine, of the Irish Medical Organisation, said that no comparison could be made between the pricing arrangements of vets and doctors. GPs and hospital consultants "make individual decisions on their fees". GPs' fees varied from about £18 to £25 and consultants charged between £60 and £100 for a private visit. Scales negotiated with the Department of Health or with private medical insurance companies such as the VHI and BUPA were freely entered into on both sides.
Groups such as agency nurses, substitute teachers or freelance journalists may encounter difficulties if they seek to have rates agreed by their unions in collective agreements applied in their own cases. Already the Provincial Newspapers' Association of Ireland has referred a pay claim from the National Union of Journalists for a new scale of fees on behalf of freelance members to the Competition Authority to see if it is in breach of the Act.
The NUJ has, in turn, referred the case to the Labour Court for adjudication. It wants to court to rule on whether the 1991 Act takes precedence over existing industrial relations legislation. The court has yet to consider the matter. The Irish secretary of the NUJ, Mr Eoin Ronayne, said the issues raised in the IVU case had serious implications for thousands of workers in atypical employment, or subject to individualised contracts. "If the industrial relations machinery of the State has been changed by the new Act, then this becomes a political issue," Mr Ronayne said.
