Trade Union Left Forum condemns the ruling yesterday in the High Court that found Sectoral Employment Orders (SEOs) unconstitutional.
These pieces of legislation are enacted to protect workers, from exploitation by employers. They guarantee minimum rates of pay & conditions, including sick pay schemes, pension contributions for all employers in the sector, including those who had not been part of the negotiations.
The robustness of the legislation is clearly defective as a small body representing small and medium-sized electrical firms have successfully challenged the industrial relations amendment act 2015 and the 2019 sectoral employment order for Electrical Contracting sector made under the legislation.
This brings into doubt all SEOs which will leave workers with no guarantee above the minimum wage currently at €10.10 per hour. This situation will no doubt be exploited by employers in their never ending an insatiable appetite for maximizing profits.
It demonstrates the total incompetence of the government during the negotiation, as it’s as a result of government incompetence that the employers organisation successfully challenged the legislation.
The negotiations for this legislation was not a friendly chat among equals it was a negotiation between class enemies.
Once again it has been proven beyond doubt that the state, employers and the judiciary are no friends of the working class or their trade unions. Workers must join a union and get actively involved. The trade union movement must lead from the front and fight against this race to the bottom in pay and conditions or it will continue.
Employers have grown in confidence having demoralised the trade union movement through years of social partnership and left them bereft of experience of taking collective action. We need to mobilise workers and communities around the country and demand the basic workers rights afforded to workers around the developed world.
Trade unions need to go back to their roots and move away from the servicing trade unionism model if we continue to service rather than defend our gains and fight for new ground the trade union movement will become redundant
We demand that the 1990 industrial relations act is abolished and replaced with a fair work act that guarantees the right to Union recognition, the right to Union access and full collective bargaining rights.
This will tip the balance of power towards workers & away from employers enabling workers to fight fir a just share of what we produce.
An injury to one is the concern of all.
See judgement from court on this link:
