Mixed response from unions and employers

THERE WAS a mixed reaction from employers and unions to the joint labour committee (JLC) legislation.

The vice-president of the union Siptu, Patricia King, said that while they were disappointed that the premium for working on Sundays had not been included, workers would “be able to achieve a Sunday premium through a new code of practice to be developed by the JLCs”.

She said her union was “unhappy” that the Minister had allowed employers pleading an inability to pay an exemption of up to two years when her union had sought a maximum of one year.

However, the Restaurants Association of Ireland said it was “outraged” with the Government’s decision to reintroduce the JLC wage-setting system.

The association’s chief executive, Adrian Cummins, said a High Court decision this summer that found sections of industrial relations legislation governing the joint labour committee wage-setting mechanism to be unconstitutional proved his association’s view that JLCs were “not constitutionally sound”.

Saying that Ireland’s minimum wage was the highest in Europe, with France, the UK, Germany and Spain not paying Sunday premiums, Mr Cummins called on Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton to “immediately abolish” JLCs to allow restaurants to “start employing people without JLC barriers”.

The Irish Hotels Federation was also critical of the retention of JLCs, which it described as “an outdated and regressive employment framework”.

The chief executive of the body, Tim Fenn, queried the constitutionality of the proposed reforms, and described JLCs as “an impediment to job creation”.

The Construction Industry Federation also expressed its disappointment, saying the proposals “do not go far enough to meet competitiveness challenges” in the sector.

The federation’s director general, Tom Parlon, said while there were some positive aspects to the proposals, such as the need to take into account international wage rates when agreeing terms here, the reforms “could have gone further”.

Employers’ body Ibec described the Government’s plans as “misguided and unnecessary”. Its director, Brendan McGinty, said while the abolition of Sunday premiums was an “improvement”, the entire JLC system “should have been consigned to history”.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (Isme) said the proposed reforms would “push struggling companies over the edge”. Isme chief executive Mark Fielding said “the core issue of general pay has not been sufficiently addressed” and “an opportunity to bring wage levels in a significant number of sectors down to affordable levels is being missed”.

Mandate, a union of retail and bar workers, welcomed proposals that all workers previously covered by the JLCs would continue to be protected.

However, Mandate general secretary John Douglas said he was “disappointed” the Bill did not explicitly provide for Sunday premiums, and said he would be investigating if the proposed “inability to pay” clause “can be tightened up”.