Speech by Ms. Mary Coughlan, T.D.,Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment at the Social Partnership Plenary Session on Pay

Introduction

Chairman, I very much welcome the opportunity to address this forum at what is my first occasion to participate formally in the social partnership process in my current role.

The challenges for our economy that the Taoiseach has outlined (and the Minister for Finance will elaborate on) are manifest in the areas falling within my remit as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The challenges include a rise in redundancies; a challenging labour market and a more difficult trading environment which threatens export growth.

I am very conscious that social partnership has been one of the cornerstones underpinning the level of economic and social progress we have achieved in recent years. Like my colleagues, I believe and hope that it can be central to our meeting the challenges we now face.

Competitiveness

From where I sit, the key consideration in addressing these challenges in the environment we now face is maintaining and enhancing our competitiveness in the fullest sense: competitiveness that will enable our economy to develop on a path of sustainable export-led growth; competitiveness in terms of enabling us to remain an attractive location for foreign direct investment; and competitiveness that will underpin our development as a knowledge-based, innovative economy capable of sustaining high quality employment.

Some of the factors impacting negatively on our competitiveness are beyond our control—the appreciation of the Euro against sterling and the dollar. Some of the cost increases we are experiencing are externally generated—the cost of oil and commodities and the increased cost of capital as a result of the credit crunch. It is all the more vital then that, in areas where own actions can influence our cost environment, we act responsibly and work together to ensure that we safeguard and enhance our competitiveness. This is our best route to job creation and increasing living standards in the medium term.

We are committed to investing in competitiveness—through our funding for training and upskilling, for science and research and for the attraction of new industry and the growth and development of our existing industry. The policies we can together influence through partnership are an essential underpinning of that investment.

Employment Standards

The competitiveness agenda, if I may call it that, goes hand- in- hand, as far as I am concerned, with maintaining and enhancing standards in the workplace and employment rights. We do not and cannot seek to advance one at the expense of the other.

My Department has committed significant effort and resources to meeting the demanding agenda set for us in the Towards 2016 agreement. We have substantially met those commitments.

We have endeavoured, in good faith, to capture in the Employment Law Compliance Bill the elements of the new compliance model as we understood them to be set out in the agreement. We are engaging, and will continue to engage, with you to perfect the Bill with a view to having it enacted at the earliest opportunity.

I am extremely conscious of at least two major issues in the employment law/industrial relations domain that are key factors in reaching an overall agreement in the current phase of negotiations.

Agency Workers

As regards temporary agency workers, I am pleased that the outcome we worked to achieve in the Council of Ministers in Brussels affords the social partners here the opportunity, within the parameters of the Directive, to agree terms and conditions for agency workers appropriate to our own conditions. Though I appreciate the text has still to be finalised with the European Parliament, it gives us the opportunity to strike the appropriate balance between the protection agency workers must be afforded and the flexibility necessary to preserve business competitiveness and protect jobs.

I suggest to you that the mechanism provided in the Directive for agreeing flexibilities in this area at national or sectoral level represents an empowerment of the Social Partners and, I suggest, a real opportunity that should be grasped.

Collective Bargaining

I appreciate the deep concerns among trade unions that the balance represented by the Industrial Relations Acts 2001 and 2004 has been disturbed in the wake of the Supreme Court judgement. My Department has made some tentative suggestions as to possible ways to plot a way forward. I know that the parties have advanced their own views on how the situation should be addressed. My Government colleagues and I favour an agreed rather than an imposed outcome on this issue. And one that meets the concerns of trade unions while at the same time is not detrimental to our ability to attract and retain investment, or capable as being portrayed as such.

We are alive to the importance of this issue. We will spare no effort in seeking to work with you to explore all options to find such a solution that meets all our needs.

Conclusion

I am extremely conscious of the complexity of the agenda that faces us, not least in the area of labour market regulation and employment standards. We are entitled to some confidence that Social Partnership is capable of working through the complexities and reaching acceptable compromises. We have over twenty years experience to draw on. However, we may have to park some of our wish lists for another day. More than ever, any agreement will be a balancing act of the highest skill and will require a strong nerve. Social Partnership may not be the only game in town but it is the game we know best: there is a shared understanding of the ground rules and it remains best placed to deliver for all participants.

ENDS/ETE1922