Ireland: the government announces it has adopted three bills on collective bargaining, sectoral agreements (REAs), and fixing national minimum wage

The Irish Government announced it was adopting some much anticipated draft laws on company collective bargaining, sectoral agreements (known as Registered Employment Agreement, REA), and a minimum wage.Unions have welcomed the government’s faster legislative turnaround time despite employer pressure to the contrary. The government is looking to protect and strengthen workers’ rights whilst safeguarding legislative security for employers.
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Safeguarding company collective agreements. Even though the legal text intends to maintain a voluntary approach to industrial relations, the government’s first draft law aims to align Ireland’s ‘inadequate’ legal content (c.f. article No. 8399) with ILO international standards on workers’ collective bargaining rights. The new text aims to guarantee unions the effective means so that the Labor Court can define working conditions for the employees when employers refuse to enter such negotiations

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