A chara, – Amid the Dáil debacle on speaking rights an aspect somewhat overlooked is that the Dáil is a place of work for these politicians. A place of work, that for months now has been embroiled in a battle over individual and collective right to voice and raise questions.
Perhaps the greatest irony of the situation is that daily over two-thirds of workers in this country go to work in organisations where it could be argued they have limited voice.
This is due, in part, to an industrial relations system where rights to trade union representation and collective bargaining are not a reality for most workers.
The EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages seeks to redress this to some extent with obligations on governments to at least promote collective bargaining.
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Politicians were privileged to be able to do engage in discussion and protest regarding speaking rights.
For workers in Ireland, spontaneously collectively walking off the job is a sanctionable form of unofficial protest and liable to attract serious consequences in the form of disciplinary actions.
The Dáil speaking rights issue illustrates how strongly aggrieved individuals feel when procedural rules devalue voice or have a silencing effect.
Can we now look forward to renewed political support for real voice and collective bargaining rights for workers? – Yours, etc,
CAROLINE MURPHY,
JULIET McMAHON,
MICHELLE O’SULLIVAN,
Associate Professors in Work and Employment Studies,
University of Limerick.
