A Series Of National Partnership Agreements Provided A Non-Binding Framework: Industrial Relations Assignment, TUD, Ireland

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

A series of National Partnership Agreements provided a non-binding framework for pay bargaining from 1987 to 2009. However, the agreementnote1 signed in 2008, was unable to withstand Ireland’s economic crisis, and the country has returned to company level bargaining in the private sector, although in the public sector the government reached an agreement with the unions following pay cuts

THE FRAMEWORK

From 1987 to 2009 collective bargaining in Ireland took place within the framework of a series of national agreements (National Social Partnership Agreements), initially between the ICTU, the employers’ association IBEC, the government and farming organisations.

Community and voluntary organisations then became involved from 1997 onwards. These agreements dealt with pay but also tackled broader economic and social issues, such as, from 1997 onwards, poverty and social exclusion and the promotion of social partnership. These pacts did not have legal force but unions and employers’ organisations were expected to exert discipline on their own members to ensure they kept to the terms of the agreements.

Any disputes related to their implementation at the industry or local level could be referred to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) and, in the case of a failure to reach an agreement, to the Labour Court. Both the LRC and the Labour Court are state bodies intended to improve industrial relations and minimise disruption from disputes. The LRC was set up in 1991; the Labour Court in 1948.

The last full social partnership agreement was “Towards 2016”, agreed in 2006. Following the start of the economic and financial crisis, this agreement was reviewed and an updated “Transitional Agreement 2008-2009” was signed in September 2008.

However, the growing economic crisis and unilateral actions by the government put severe pressure on the agreement, with many employers in the private sector not implementing the pay element of the deal in early 2009. Despite this, discussions between employers and the government continued. These finally broke down in December 2009, when the government announced it intended to impose direct pay cuts in the public sector. In the same month, IBEC formally withdrew from the terms of the Transitional Agreement, following the failure of attempts to agree on a revised deal.

Since then pay in the private sector has been set primarily at the company level, either through negotiations in unionised companies or through a unilateral decision by the employer where unions are not present. However, in March 2010, IBEC and the ICTU agreed on a voluntary protocol “for the orderly conduct of industrial relations and local bargaining in the private sector”.

This did not set any pay norms, but it did state that both sides would encourage their members “to abide by established collective agreements” and ensure that “local negotiations … take place on the expiry of existing agreements.” The document also stated that the key objective was “the maximisation of sustainable employment”.

The protocol was initially only valid during 2010 but it was extended in February 2011 and again in October 2012,2 and the arrangements will continue to be valid until one of the parties decides otherwise.

Up to 2012 a majority of companies maintained pay freezes.3 Since then pay has started to rise, with IBEC reporting that half of the employers it surveyed in 2014 expected to increase pay.4 In addition to company-level bargaining, there are also some industry-level agreements – the most important covers the construction industry.