merrion street

Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton today announced reforms to the Joint Labour Committee and Registered Employment Agreement wage settling mechanisms, following Government decision last Tuesday.

The measures will radically overhaul the system so as to make it fairer, more competitive and more flexible so as to increase job-creation in these sectors. They will also reinstate a robust system of protection for workers in these sectors in the aftermath of the recent High Court ruling.

The principal measures include:

The number of JLCs will be reduced from 13 to 6;

JLCs will have the power to set only a basic adult rate and two higher increments to reflect longer periods of service. JLCs previously set over 300 different wage rates

JLCs will no longer set Sunday premium rates or any other conditions of employment covered by universal standards provided for in existing legislation, but the special position of Sunday working will still be recognised;

Companies will be able to derogate from EROs in cases of financial difficulty

In setting rates, JLCs will have to take into account factors such as unemployment rates, competitiveness and wage trends here and in our major trading partners

Record-keeping requirements for employers in these sectors will be reduced

The constitutionality of EROs will be restored through inclusion of robust principles and policies.

Making the announcement, Minister Bruton said:

There is no adjustment as traumatic for any worker as the loss of a job, and the sectors covered by these agreements have suffered a haemorrage of job losses over the past three years. The urgent need to protect and create jobs in these sectors has driven my determination over the past four months to see through comprehensive and radical reform in this area. The recent High Court ruling, which undermined the position of workers in these sectors, created an additional urgency.

The Duffy Walsh report found that these systems require “radical overhaul so as to make it fairer and more responsive to changing economic circumstances and labour market conditions”. The package of reforms arising from that report which has been agreed by Government represents a fair and balanced solution to that need.

The Minister added:

Heads of Bill have been prepared by my Department, agreed by Government, and communicated to the Attorney General, and she has agreed to give the highest priority to drafting this legislation in the coming weeks...The intention is to have a Bill ready to introduce to the Oireachtas at the earliest possible opportunity next term.

With the numbers out of work at record levels it is vital that we do all we can to protect those currently in jobs and to give those out of work the best chance possible to get back in to work.