Conflict in The Work Place

Trade Unions, or “Organised Labour” are good because they mean that employers are not able to abuse
the legitimate rights of workers.

The bigger the Union is the more powerful it is, the greater the disruption its members can cause by
withholding their labour, and the more money it has to give its members “strike pay” in the event of a
protracted strike.

For the above reasons Unions have tended to get bigger in recent years due to amalgamations of
smaller unions, although there are a couple of examples of unions fracturing because of internal
differences, a minority group feels its interests are not being met by the Union leaders, e.g the GRA,
and the LDA who broke from the IRBU.

Every worker has the right to join a union, but there is no obligation on mangement to negotiate with a
union, e.g. Ryan Air refuse to recognise any of its industry’s unions.

A Closed Shop, Some workplaces can only employ union members, e.g. the electrical workers
unions. The Union feels that it can protect the pay and conditions that it negotiates for its members by
refusing to allow any non-members who might be prepares to work for less to work in their workplace.

All unionised workers are represented locally by a shop steward.

Unions are divided into branches, and are controlled by the National Union Executive. Most unions in
Ireland are members of ICTU.

Suggest reasons for this!
A Union’s Sole responsibility is to protect the interests of its members, against discrimination,
change in workpractices,
to negotiate wages,
redundancies,
redundancy payments.
Cost of Living Dispute.
Comparibility Claim.
Relativity Claim.
Productiviy Claim.
Also to participate where possible on Boards of Management, and to represent its members interests at
National Wage Agreement Level.

What can a union do to flex its muscles?
Strikes

Official
Token Stoppage.

Unofficial
Work to Rule

Wildcat
Go slow
All out strike
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Conflict in The Work Place
N.B Implications of industrial action.
1.
Often results in protracted bad feeling between Employers and Workers, which can be very bad
for morale.
2.
Employers do not pay workers during a Strike.
3.
If production stops, orders may be missed, and the business may lose customers, threatening the
future viability of the company.
In recent years Unions have taken these considerations into account before sanctioning a strike, Official
strikes are now far less frequent than they once were.
Procedures for avoiding disputes.
N.B. Industrial disputes are bad for everybody, workers, employers, supliers, customers, the government
and Society.
Tremendous thought and resources are used, (or should be used), to avoid a breakdown in industrial
relations.
The First thing that should be in place is a grievance
procedure , The purpose of a grievance procedure is that
N.B. The 3 steps to dispute solving.
1. Negotiation
2. Legislation
3. Go to Court.
any employee issues that arise should be dealt with in a fair,
simple and fast way, and not be allowed to escalate out of control e.g. with the teachers and the ta xi
drivers.
Negotiation.
N.B Both Management and Workers often engage professional negotiators.
Both sides need to Identify their optimal outcome as well as theirBottom Line.
Skilled negotiators seek to avoid a ZERO sum game, i.e I win-You Lose.
It is better to identify a range of issues of grievance or concern where progress may be possible, e,g. Pay
issues, time off, holiday pay, rostering arrangements, promotion prospects, union recognition, chain of
command, issues of communication.
Both sides should enter negotiation in a spirit of Goodwill
Legislation
If Negotiation fails or cannot be conducted in a spirit of constructive goodwill, both sides
should look at Legislation and at the policy documents of the employer to see if a
resolution to the dispute can be agreed. Failing this, the next step is the Labour Court.
The Labour Relations Commission Can be involved in both the above levels
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Conflict in The Work Place
The Two Main Institutions to note are the:
The Labour Court.
Labour Relations Commission

One Chairman

2 Deputy Chairmen

One Chairman

6 Ordinary Members. (Nominated by

Six Members. 2 nominated by IBEC, 2
Est. by Industrial Relations Act 1990
nominated by ICTU.
IBEC and ICTU)
Arbitration being the main word.
Conciliation being the main word.
In theory both sides would agree to be bound by
An officer of the LRC gets both sides talking, acts
the decision of the Labour Court in advance.
as a neutral arbitrator.
In practice this rarely happens in large disputes.
The LRC can also provide,
At the end of the day you can’t force employers to

Rights Commissioners and
pay more than they are prepared to, nor force

Equality Officers
workers to work for less than they are prepared to.

An advisory service, and

Codes of Practice.

Commissioning of Research, Monitoring

Labour Court Investigate disputes, makes
recommendations,


of developments in Industrial relations
Decides on appeals against Rights
They have the role of keeping the communications
Commissioners.
process between management and workers well
Make judgments on appeal from equality
oiled.
officers.

To establish Joint Labour Committee, and
make employment regulations as
submitted by such bodies.

Supports Joint Industrial Councils.

N.B. Registering agreements
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Conflict in The Work Place
Joint Labour Committee
They may be set up by the Labour Court on the
application of
(i)
the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and
Joint Industrial Councils
A "Qualified Joint Industrial Council" is defined in
the Industrial Relations Act, 1946 as an association
of persons which complies with the following
conditions:-
Employment, or
(ii)
a trade union, or
any organisation claiming to be representative of
1. that it is substantially representative of workers
of a particular class, type or group and their
employers;
the workers or the employers involved.
Joint Labour Committees (JLCs) are bodies
established to provide machinery for fixing
statutory minimum rates of pay and conditions of
employment.
A JLC is made up of equal numbers of employer
and worker representative appointed by the Labour
Court and a chairman and substitute chairman
appointed by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and
Employment.
JLCs operate in areas where collective bargaining
is not well established and wages tend to be low.
The function of a JLC is to draw up proposals for
fixing minimum rates of pay and conditions of
employment for the workers involved. When
proposals submitted by a JLC are confirmed by the
Labour Court in the form of an Employment
Regulation Order, they become the statutory
minimum pay and conditions of employment for
the workers concerned. Employers are then bound
under penalty to pay wage rates and provide
conditions of employment not less favourable than
those prescribed.
2. that its object is the promotion of harmonious
relations between such employers and such
workers;
3. that its rules provide that if a trade dispute arises
between such workers and their employers, a lockout or strike will not be undertaken in support of
the dispute until the dispute has been referred to the
association and considered by it.
A body which fulfils these conditions may apply to
the Labour Court for registration as a Joint
Industrial Council and the Court, if satisfied, will
place it on the Register of Joint Industrial Councils
Apart from Registered Joint Industrial Councils,
there are a number of others which have not applied
for registration. The Labour Court facilitates the
Councils - both registered and unregistered - by
making available an officer of the Court to act as
secretary at their meetings. The meetings are
chaired by Industrial Relations Officers of the
Labour Relations Commission.
An employer of workers to whom Employment
Regulation Order applies must keep records of
wages, payments etc., and must retain these records
for three years. The employer must also post up a
prescribed notice in the place of employment
setting out particulars of the statutory rates of pay
and conditions of employment.
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Conflict in The Work Place
Employment Equality Agency.
Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The EAT is a three person body, with
nominees from the trade unions and the
Executive, and also employs a Chief Officer, Legal employers, and independent chairpersons
Adviser, and staff involved in enforcement, positive nominated by the Minister for
Employment and Enterprise;
action, promotion and casework.
The EEA is headed by a Chairperson and a Chief
The Functions of the EEA are as follows;
to work towards the elimination of discrimination
in relation to employment,
to promote equality of opportunity between men
and women in relation to employment and
Main function the implementation of the
Unfair Dismissals Act 1977-93, but also,
Redundancy Payments
Minimum Notice
to review the workings of the equal pay and equal
opportunity legislation and make proposals for their
amendment
to conduct investigations,
Maternity Protection of Employees
Can hear appeals from decisions of Rights
Commissioners
to issue "nondiscrimination notices" ,
to assist claimants in bringing cases under the Acts.
to fund the carrying out of research and publish the
results,
The EEA also employs an Equal Opportunities
Promotion Officer whose role it is to talk to
employers, workers, trade unions, schools and so
on about the promotion of equal opportunities.
Other publications include guides for employers
and employees, and a Code of Practice on Equality
of Opportunity in Employment.
Only the Agency has power to refer to the Labour
relations commission incidents of discriminatory
advertising, pressure on persons to discriminate and
general policies of discriminatory practice.
An important aspect of the Agency's role is its
contribution to policy-making at both national and
E.U. level.
The Agency has in many ways been a very
effective monitoring and enforcement body.
6th Year Business Revision
It hears claims by employees under
various statutes: the Redundancy Payments
Acts, the Minimum Notice and Terms of
Employment Act 1973, the Unfair
Dismissals Act, the Maternity Protection of
Employees Act 1981, the Protection of
Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act
1984, and the Payment of Wages Act
1991 . In cases brought under the Unfair
Dismissals Act the EAT may either hear a
claim directly, or on appeal from a Rights
Commissioner , and under the Payment of
Wages Act the Tribunal hears appeals from
decisions of a Rights Commissioner.
the latter are appointed from the ranks of
practising lawyers. The Tribunal sits in
divisions, i.e. with one person from each
wing. Although the EAT is able to apply
flexible and informal procedures, they
have over the years tended to become more
legalistic and court-like; this is reflected
also in the large proportion of cases in
which the parties are represented by
solicitors or barristers.
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Conflict in The Work Place
The Legislation.
Employment Equality Legislation.
The Industrial relations Act 1990.
Unfair Dismissals Act 1977-93
The Industrial relations Act 1990-

Main Provision is that Unions most hold a vote by secret
Ballot to before it can call industrial action.

The union must give a minimum of one week’s notice of
industrial action.

Employment Equality Legislation-
No secondary picketing
Various acts that outlaw discrimination on the basis of gender,
race, creed, marital status
Unfair Dismissals Act 1977-93
It is very hard to sack a full time employee.

An employer needs to prove that the employee was,
incompetent, or

used unacceptable conduct, or

there was a genuine redundancy.
The employer would be expected to have given a number of
written warnings before actually dismissing the employee.
Two Agencies to Remember…
1.
The Employment Equality Agency works to eliminate discrimination in employment by
promoting equality of treatment and opportunity.
2.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal responsible for insuring that firms obey the Unfair Dismissals
Act.
Rights Commissioner: investigate issues regarding
Equality Service: Equality officers investigate
one worker or a small group of workers.
equality and discrimination claims.
N.B can only investigate with permission of both
Have to power to enter premises and examine
sides, recommendations not binding.
records.
Illegal to obstruct them
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