Minister Celleary's urge to employers and trade unions - minimum wage
Minister Calleary urges employers and trade unions to be more responsive and flexible in operating statutory wage fixing machinery to take account of severe economic challenges
Speaking today [Saturday] at the opening of a conference on “THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT 1990 – TWENTY YEARS ON” organised by the UCD School of Law, Minister for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary TD, said thatGovernment policy supported the retention of the Joint Labour Committee system alongside the National Minimum Wage as a protection for low paid workers. In addition, the system of Registered Employment Agreements provided a bulwark against socially undesirable under-cutting that has to be respected by foreign service providers.
Minister Calleary said'the challenge we face is to ensure that these wage fixing mechanisms work effectively and efficiently and that they do not have a negative impact on economic performance and employment levels. Rather than challenging their very existence, I believe it would be more productive to ensure that all parties use these mechanisms and use them with skill.'
'I would urge that all parties to these agreements would recognise that a little responsiveness and flexibility in the operation of this wage determination machinery would go a long way. A tangible recognition that we are experiencing unprecedented economic turbulence might see less legal challenges being mounted and less vociferous demands for the scrappage of the entire system.
'A wage setting mechanism which demonstrates its capacity to make adjustments in both directions would, in my view, go a long way towards garnering political, public and business sector goodwill as well as securing jobs.'
The Minister added that it was precisely because of the widespread concern that sector level wage bargaining systems and wage setting mechanisms have proved insufficiently responsive to adverse labour market conditions and pressures to regain competitiveness that he had announced his willingness to consider the introduction of an “inability to pay” mechanism in these statutory wage fixing mechanisms to provide employers facing short-term financial difficulties with a form of temporary relief.
Reform of employment rights bodies
Commenting on arguments made for institutional reform in the domain of industrial relations and employment rights Minister Calleary said 'The incremental evolution of employment rights legislation over the past 20 years has resulted in a complicated system which is confusing and costly. The duplication of functions within the fragmented architecture of industrial relations and employment rights is reflected in needless divergences in procedures and remedies.'
The Minister said that he is satisfied that there is a general acceptance by stakeholders and service users alike of the desirability of simplifying and streamlining the complaint, appeal and enforcement procedures across existing bodies.
The Minister added 'I would like to see the development of a new streamlined entry point for the channelling of employment law complaints to the greatest extent possible. This could involve, for example, common templates for the initiation of claims using the discipline and efficiencies which on-line application processes provide.'
'Ensuring that there is better access to information, which is shared across the enforcement and adjudication bodies, is a targeted and cost efficient way of shaping the system to meet customer service requirements. The Courts Service is an example of public service reform in the justice sphere that has been built upon simplified and integrated processes.'
Minister Calleary saidthat he accepted that there isa real need to tidy up the existing body of employment law with a view to ironing out wrinkles, inconsistencies and case-routing ambiguities. 'While consolidation of the entire suite of employment law would be the ideal, it is also likely to be a complex and time-consuming process. As a practical first step, I am more interested in doing whatever remedial work is necessary to address the day-to-day problems that are arising for practitioners, citizens and the institutions.'
