Unite warns that proposals will fail to close collective bargaining gap between Irish and European workers

Unite, which organises workers throughout Ireland, today (Wednesday) expressed disappointment at the scarcity of concrete commitments to expanding workers’ rights in the new Action Plan to Promote Collective Bargaining.

Ireland remains out of step with our European peers in not providing a statutory right to union recognition and collective bargaining.  In the absence of such legislation, the aspirational actions outlined in this plan will fail to close the collective bargaining gap between workers in Ireland and workers in the rest of the EU.

The ability to collectively bargain is the biggest single factor in being able to increase pay in the workplace.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Collective bargaining is the best single way to boost workers’ wages and to tackle the cost of living crisis.

“There must be no further delay in ensuring Irish workers have the same basic fundamental employment rights as fellow workers across the European Union.”

Unite will continue arguing for robust union recognition and collective bargaining legislation, while working to maximise any potential benefits to workers deriving from the action plan.

In particular, the union highlighted the commitments to develop a Code of Practice on collective bargaining, to review the Unfair Dismissals Act and to examine legal protections for union representatives. The plan also represents a small step forward in terms of recognising the potential role of public procurement as a lever to promote collective bargaining and committing to developing criteria for physical and digital access. 

Unite’s Irish Secretary Susan Fitzgerald said: “Essentially, this is a plan to promote a right which the government has still not delivered. Instead, the plan explicitly reinforces Ireland’s so-called voluntarist system of industrial relations – a system where employers can simply veto the democratic right of workers to be collectively represented by the union of their choice”.

 “While Unite will work to maximise any potential benefits of the Action Plan for our members, the union movement must remain focused on securing a statutory path to union recognition and collective bargaining.