The Government has just received this judgment, and we intend to study it and take legal advice on it before commenting in detail.
The judgment has the effect of striking down Registered Employment Agreements put in place under the 1946 Industrial Relations Act. Agreements which set pay and conditions for workers in five sectors including electrical contracting and construction are affected by today's judgment.
Existing contractual rights of workers in sectors covered by Registered Employment Agreement are unaffected by today's ruling. Contractual rights can be altered only by agreement between the parties involved.
ENDS
For further details contact:
Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation – Cian Connaughton, Press - Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU, (087) 9186982.
Notes for Editors
REAs
Prior to the introduction of the Industrial Relations Act, 2012, Employment Agreements were presented to the Labour Court for registration under the Industrial relations Act, 1946. Under that Act, where the Labour Court was satisfied that the agreement presented satisfied the statutory requirements, it registered the agreement. The effect of this was to make the provisions of the agreement legally enforceable in respect of every worker of the class, type or group to which it was expressed to apply and to his or her employer, even if such worker or employer was not a party to the agreement. Essentially, the effect of the registration is to make legally-binding the minimum pay and conditions provided for in the agreement for all employers and employees in the sector.
High Court Judgment
The REA was challenged by electrical contractors who were not members of either of the employer parties to the REA registered in 1990 and subsequently varied. The case (which combined three individual challenges) was heard in the High Court. Judgement was delivered on Wednesday 30th June2010. The issues covered in the proceedings involved challenges to:
• to the validity of the original registration of Electrical REA itself
• the Labour Court’s refusal in 2009 to cancel the REA, and
• the constitutionality of certain parts of the Industrial Relations Acts dealing with the REA system.
The High Court Judge dismissed the challenges on all grounds.
Supreme Court Judgment
The appeal to the Supreme Court focussed solely on the substantive issue of the constitutionality of the 1946 Industrial Relations Act.
While two of the parties in the High Court pleadings have since ceased trading a third (McGowan & others) appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
Judgment was delivered by the Supreme Court on 9 May, 2013.
Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012
The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012 was enacted on 1 August 2012.
One of the purposes of the Act was to reform the system for the making of both Employment Regulation Orders (ERO) and Registered Employment Agreements (REA) and to provide for their continued effective operation. Part of that reform was to introduce greater clarity around the arrangements and criteria applying to the registration, variation and cancellation of REAs.
The Act also ensures fairer procedures that are more responsive to changing economic circumstances and eliminate rigidities that are considered to have had a negative impact on competitiveness and jobs in the affected sector.
Specifically, the Act provides for arrangements and criteria applying to the registration, variation and cancellation of REAs have been made more constitutionally secure. Specifically:
· Providing clear directions on the substantive statutory criteria which the Labour Court should take into account in considering any application to register an employment agreement
· Providing for the making of orders by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to confirm or vary the terms of REAs or to cancel the registration of REAs
· Clarifying the meaning of “substantially representative parties” in respect of representatives of the workers and employers that a proposed or current REA is intended to cover
ENDS