Doherty, Michael
(2008)
It’s Good to Talk … Isn’t It? Legislating for Information
and Consultation in the Irish Work.
Dublin University Law Journal.
ISSN 0332-3250
Abstract
The Irish industrial relations (IR) system has traditionally been characterised as “voluntarist”. This means there is a relative absence of legal
intervention in collective employment relations. There is no obligation on
employers to recognise a trade union for collective bargaining purposes, for
example, and collective agreements are generally not legally binding.1
Regardless of whether or not a trade union is present in a workplace, legally
grounded employee rights to information and consultation, or to input into
organisational decision-making, in Ireland have been traditionally rather
limited. In this context, the passing, in 2002, of the Information and
Consultation Directive2 (hereinafter “the Directive”), opened up the possibility
of considerable adjustment to the Irish model of IR. This article examines the
transposition of the Directive by means of the Employees (Provision of
Information and Consultation) Act 2006 (hereinafter “the Act”) and assesses
the extent to which the legislation is likely to be successful in securing robust
information and consultation rights for Irish employees in both unionised and
non-unionised workplaces. In the case of the former, the implications of the
legislation for trade unions will also be considered. The article is set out as
follows. First, the voluntarist model will be outlined in more detail. Second, the
background and context of the Directive and its transposition (in terms of the
key provisions of the 2006 Act) will be assessed. Finally, the implications of
the Act for greater employee involvement and input at organisational level
(and its potential to “plug” the voluntarist gaps identified) will be examined.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Employee rights; information and consultation; Ireland; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Law |
| Item ID: |
11805 |
| Depositing User: |
Michael Doherty
|
| Date Deposited: |
21 Nov 2019 17:34 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Dublin University Law Journal |
| Publisher: |
Clarus Press |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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