The Irish Government has recently announced that it wants new legislation in place before the end of 2014 aimed at replacing Registered Employment Agreements that a Supreme Court Judgment declared unconstitutional in 2013. Agreements between worker representatives and employers that were registered with the Labour Court had been legally binding to employers and employees in the sector to which the agreement applied. And it is the issue of these law making powers that the Supreme Court examined stating that the Labour Court, nor social partners, did not have the powers to make laws . No longer will collective bargaining define sectoral working conditions and instead going forward it will be the Government Minister who makes the laws based on recommendations by the Labour Court.
REAs became illegal in 2013. REAs are sectoral agreements that aim to define minimum salary levels and working conditions (working hours, holidays, etc.). Registering REAs with the labor Court conferred their legal application across a sector. By the start of 2013, 6 sectoral REAs were on the Labor Court’s books, (either registered or recently modified). Between 70,000 and 80,000 workers were covered by these agreements. On May 9, 2013 the Supreme Court declared that the Registered Employment A
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