FG backs collective bargaining

Fine Gael said today it will introduce legislation which recognises the rights of workers to engage in collective bargaining if elected to government.

The party’s Enterprise, Trade & Employment Spokesman Leo Varadkar said if Irish people vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, that any future government should honour Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights which includes the right to bargaining with employers.

Mr Varadkar said the decision to commit to legislating for the right of workers to engage in collective bargaining had been agreed at a recent meeting of the Fine Gael front bench.

“Ireland is the only country in Europe in which workers do not have a legal right to engage in collective bargaining with their employer. Fine Gael believes that if the Irish people vote for the Lisbon Treaty, any future government must honour the Charter in its national laws.

“The Charter on Fundamental Rights enshrines in European law a number of protections for workers. These include the right to information and consultation, maternity leave and limits on working hours. All of these rights already apply in Ireland; only the right to collective bargaining does not. Fine Gael believes that this government and any future Fine Gael Government is honour bound to respect the Charter by enacting collective bargaining legislation’

The issue of worker's rights has been an area of contention in the run up to to Lisbon Treaty referendum, which takes place next month.

The electricians’ and engineering union, the TEEU, recently announced it would be opposing the referendum because it said it believed the Treaty would ensure that the interest of the market would always have precedence over the rights of workers.

However it added that it would re-consider its position if a social protocol was attached and the Directive on the Posting of Workers and the Charter of Fundamental Rights amended to give workers’ rights primacy over the interests of the market.

Meanwhile, the country's largest trade union, Siptu, said it is in favour of the ratification of the treaty, saying that while it harboured a number of reservations about it, the treaty was in the best interest of working people and their families.