TÁNAISTE AND Labour leader Eamon Gilmore yesterday played down suggestions of a rift in Government over plans to reduce Sunday premium rates of pay.
Mr Gilmore said backbench Labour TDs who criticised Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton’s plans to reform the wage-setting mechanism under the joint labour committee (JLC) system were entitled to their opinion.
“The bottom line here is that there is a necessity to reform the way in which the joint labour committees are operating. The Government is committed to reforming that. Richard Bruton has a job to do. I support him in doing that, but the decision on what the outcome will be will be a decision that will be made by Government,” he said.
Mr Gilmore said everyone was in agreement that the system needed to be reformed. A process was under way and the outcome of consultation proceedings should not be anticipated.
He said individual TDs could express their views on matters in the public domain, and this was a “healthy thing” which he would not discourage. Labour deputies Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and Colm Keaveney raised the issue in the Dáil last week. “They don’t seek my blessing, nor do I give my blessing,” he told RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme.
Mr Bruton’s spokesman said he was acting on foot of a Government decision when he outlined the proposals.
“The Government is united on the need for radical reform. The Minister is acting on foot of a Government decision. He recognised that reform is difficult and there will be people who are opposed to aspects of his proposals, but he has been asked to develop a comprehensive package of proposals to get people back to work in this area,” the spokesman said.
Earlier, Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte said the suggestion Labour backbenchers had been sent out by the party leadership to criticise the proposals was “utter nonsense”.
Last week Taoiseach Enda Kenny said Mr Bruton was pursuing a “personal agenda” although he went on to say he and Mr Bruton were “singing off the same hymn-sheet”.
Meanwhile, the Construction Industry Federation has said construction companies should be able to derogate from the terms of registered employment agreements in the current economic circumstances.
The federation said the review of wage-setting mechanisms, proposed last week by Mr Bruton, was “totally inadequate” and would not help address the financial difficulties of the industry or achieve the “potential for higher employment from the limited infrastructure investment in the economy”.
Mr Bruton’s proposals would overhaul the system of setting minimum terms and conditions for sectors containing more than 200,000 workers.
Under the proposals, legally binding employment regulation orders, which govern pay and conditions in the sectors, would no longer set a Sunday premium. A spokesman for the federation said it was seeking the reform of the current system for establishing wages in construction rather than the wages themselves.
“If a more responsive registered employment agreement system is established, appropriate wage rates, commensurate with prevailing economic circumstances, can be achieved,” he said.
He said the federation was looking for an independent mechanism for reviewing and determining rates under such agreements as well as the introduction of termination dates.