IRELAND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

The Response of Ireland's Social Partners to the Industrial Relations Crisis Of 2010

The Response Of Ireland's Social Partners To The Industrial Relations Crisis Of 2010 And The Reappearance Of The Adversarial Industrial Relations Model In The Irish Public Service After An Absence Of Nearly 40 Years

Introduction

The Irish economy is experiencing unprecedented challenges in terms of the outcome from both the global macro-economic turmoil and our domestic contribution to that landscape. The rapid deterioration in our economic fortunes and the subsequent effects upon employment, business contraction and reductions in public expenditure and services creates considerable tests choices for all citizens of our country. (Kelly 2008: 15)

The Croke Park Agreement

The Public Service Agreement 2010-2014, otherwise known as the Croke Park agreement, is the centerpiece of Government policy for the public service. It aims to provide improved services with less resource. It guarantees that the more than 300,000 staff in the public service will not face further pay cuts or any compulsory redundancies until at least 2014. (Glassner 2010: 9) In return, the staff and their unions have committed to substantial change. If the reforms produce verifiable savings, the deal allows for at least some of the savings to go back to staff - particularly those earning less than €35,000 a year - as a reimbursement for pay cuts implemented over the past year or so(Erne 2008: 57). The public service payroll bill has fallen by about 12 per cent over the past two years due to a reduction in staff numbers, as well as the imposition of pay cuts and the pension levy. Although staff numbers will continue to fall demand for services in some areas, such as social welfare and health, is likely to continue to rise. Greater flexibility, staff redeployment and work practice reforms are the Government's chosen mechanisms for maintaining key public services as budgets and personnel numbers shrink. This is likely to result in the ending of traditional demarcations between different types of workers on the public payroll, such as those in the Civil Service and State agencies, local authorities and the Health Service Executive. (Davy 2010: 56)

Collective Bargaining

In Ireland, as in many democratic countries, collective bargaining is the predominant way of determining wages and conditions of employment. The term collective bargaining may be applied to both negotiations between a trade union and an individual employer and to negotiations between trade unions and an organization of employers.lt is important to note that the influence of collectively bargained rates of pay and conditions of employment may extend beyond the area of jurisdiction of the negotiating parties. Agreements made at industrial or regional level covering more than one employment are frequently supplemented by subsidiary agreements negotiated directly between an employer and union at the level of the enterprise. The precise-form which collective bargaining now takes is the result of a pragmatic approach by both sides of industry and the evolution of representative organizations of workers and employers. Where there are a number of employers in the same industry ...