Unions and collective bargaining

Sir, – The Public Sector Committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions should be congratulated on achieving a 10.5 per cent wage increase for public sector workers over 2½ years. This agreement will apply to over 350,000 trade union members in the public sector, most of whom are employed in a professional capacity. The agreement will also apply to elected representatives, members of the Cabinet, the judiciary, Garda, and armed forces. The agreement, negotiated with the Government with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission, is predicated on the State recognising the right of its workers as members of a trade union to engage in collective bargaining. The Government, as the largest employer in the State, in its statement on agreeing to the process, recognised the value of negotiating with trade unions on behalf of its employees and the community.

The recently launched “Better in a Trade Union” campaign, under the auspices of the ICTU, clearly demonstrates that workers with access to collective bargaining with their employers have better pay and conditions than those without.

Ironically, the majority of our elected parliament and Cabinet do not concede that private sector workers are entitled to the same bargaining process that determines their pay and conditions of employment, and the judiciary, which opposed wage cuts in their profession, contend that the right of trade union association do not oblige an employer to recognise a trade union for the purpose of collective bargaining, will themselves benefit from public sector collective bargaining by trade unions.

The Government has relied upon the judiciary pronouncements when opposing a right-to-bargain Bill, stating in the Dáil that the constitutional right of association does not place any requirement to recognise or negotiate with a union. The Government is talking about 1.5 million private sector workers who pay their taxes for representation.

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A recent report by the Irish Human Rights Commission stated, “exercising the right to collective bargaining provides an essential basis to the realisation of other fundamental human rights in relation to the protection of vulnerable groups in the workforce and statutory protection for collective bargaining is essential”.

The citizens’ assembly on gender equality has called on the State to establish a legal right to collective bargaining to improve wage conditions and rights in all sectors.

The ICTU campaign demonstrates the value and benefit of trade union organisation for workers, particularly workers in vulnerable, low-paid, and precarious employment.

As we approach International Women’s Day, the Government and the Dáil must practice what they preach: compliance with human rights is not an option but a right. – Yours, etc,

NORMAN A CROKE,

Straffan,

Co Kildare.