Labour Relations Commission annual report 2006 Item Type Report Authors Labour Relations Commission (LRC) Publisher Labour Relations Commission (LRC) Download date 02/10/2021 21:37:14 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10147/74633 Find this and similar works at - http://www.lenus.ie/hse Labour Relations Commission Annual Report 2006 NEGOTIATING THE WAY AHEAD Labour Relations Commission Annual Report 2006 Presented to Mr. Tony Killeen, T.D., Minister for Labour Affairs in accordance with Section 27(3) of The Industrial Relations Act, 1990 Labour Relations Commission Annual Report 2006 Report Annual Commission Labour Relations Labour Relations Commission Annual Report 2006 Report Annual Commission Labour Relations Contents Mission and Functions of the Labour Relations Commission 4 Members and Officers of the Commission 5 Chairman’s Statement 6 Chief Executive’s Report 7 Chapter 1 DEVELOPMENTS in 2006 9 Industrial Relations 12 Socio-Economic Indicators 16 Chapter 2 THE COMMISSION’S INITIATIVES in 2006 17 Chapter 3 THE COMMISSION’S SERVICES in 2006 18 The Conciliation Services Division 18 The Advisory Services Division 24 The Rights Commissioner Service Division 30 Chapter 4 THE CORPORATE SERVICES DIVISION in 2006 34 Administration 34 Staffing 35 APPENDICES Organisational Structure of LRC 36 Audited Accounts 2005 39 Publications available from the Labour Relations Commission 53 Labour Relations Commission Annual Report 2006 Report Annual Commission Labour Relations Mission & Functions Mission The Commission undertakes other activities of a developmental nature relating to the improvement of “To promote the development and industrial relations practices including: improvement of Irish industrial relations n the review and monitoring of developments in the area policies, procedures and practices through of industrial relations the provision of appropriate, timely and effective services to employers, trade n the preparation, in consultation with the social partners, unions and employees.” of codes of practice relevant to industrial relations n industrial relations research and publications The Commission carries out this mission by providing the following specific services: n organisation of seminars and conferences on industrial relations and human resource management issues n an industrial relations Conciliation Service n an industrial relations Advisory Service n a Rights Commissioner Service n a Workplace Mediation Service n assistance to Joint Labour Committees and Joint Industrial Councils in the exercise of their functions Labour Relations Commission Annual Report 2006 Report Annual Commission Labour Relations Members and Officers of the Commission Maurice Cashell Kieran Mulvey Chairman Chief Executive Gerard Barry, Chief Executive, Peter Bunting Liam Downey Josephine Feehily HSE-Employers’ Agency Asst. General Secretary, Chairman, Revenue Commissioner (from 1 April 2006) Irish Congress of Trade Unions Health Service Executive (to 31 March 2006) (to 31 March 2006) Pat McCann, Brendan McGinty Peter McLoone Breege O’Donoghue former Chief Executive, Director of Industrial Relations General Secretary, an Executive Director, Jurys Doyle Hotel Group & Human Resources , IBEC IMPACT Penneys/Primark (from 1 April 2006) Internal Audit Committee Senior Management Team Meetings of the Board/ Senior Management Team The Board met on 11 occasions in 2006 Josephine Feehily, Chair Kieran Mulvey, to discuss and review the Commission’s (to 31 March 2006) Chief Executive 2006 Report Annual Commission Labour Relations strategy, budget, operational activities, and its business plan and to decide upon Declan Morrin, areas of Commission policy and corporate Gerard Barry, Chair Director of the governance. The Senior Management (from 1 April 2006) Advisory Services Division Team, consisting of the Chief Executive, Directors/Deputy Director of Services Kevin Foley, attends Board meetings, and meets on Director of the Conciliation a regular basis between meetings of the Peter Bunting Services Division Board. Freda Nolan, Director of the Corporate Services Division and Brendan McGinty Secretary to the Commission Tom Pomphrett, Deputy Director of the Conciliation Services Division Chairman’s Statement I am pleased to report to the of human resource management. These developments are Minister, and through him to changing, in some situations have changed, the context in Parliament and the people, on which bodies like the LRC carry out their responsibilities. the activities of the Labour In response, the LRC by the end of 2006 had completed Relations Commission (LRC) several steps to enhance its operational processes. It had in 2006, its 16th year. Set perfected a new case management system to better up under law in 1990 the administer various parts of the organisation including the Commission is charged with Rights Commissioners. The Conciliation Service has had the general responsibility good experience with its new reorganisation that enables of improving industrial relations policies, procedures and it to be more proactive and strategic in the delivery practices. It does this by providing a suite of appropriate, of services. A new Workplace Mediation Service had timely and effective services to employers, employees and completed its first caseload, providing prompt confidential trade unions. and effective remedies to workplace conflicts in both the public and the private sector. More regular formal training The drafters of the legislation which established the was provided to Rights Commissioners. Cross-functional Commission could scarcely have conceived of a situation, teams involving the Conciliation and Advisory Services as occurred in 2006, in which a mere 7,352 working days allowed different resolution techniques to be applied were lost in ten industrial disputes, with 1,186 workers to particular organisational problems. The list is not involved. Yet, the demand for the services of the LRC exhaustive. The point is that the LRC does not see its future continues to be high, is in some respects growing, and with as a continuation of its past. many cases becoming more complex. Several influences are shaping these changes including the continuing drive The Commission will continue to look at various other for efficiencies and reform in the health sector, where means of improving its efficiency. It realises that the adversarial industrial relations are deeply embedded, and changes taking place in Irish society and the Irish economy more generally in the public sector where existing linkages are substantial and are generating a range of challenges to compound dispute resolution. Similarly, in the private public dispute resolution and employment rights bodies. sector continuing pressures for efficiency, change and cost With my colleagues on the Board I salute the impressive reduction pose particular complexities in dispute resolution way in which Kieran Mulvey and his staff have been in enterprises that have already experienced a series of meeting these challenges. I would like to thank the Minister such drives. for Labour Affairs, Tony Killeen, T.D., for his continuing encouragement; his Secretary General, Sean Gorman and These trends towards reduction of traditional large scale his colleagues in the Department of Enterprise Trade and collective industrial action, growth in individual and Employment for their support during the year ; and my small scale disputes and greater complexity in dispute fellow Board Members for their wisdom and commitment. resolution are not exclusively Irish phenomena: this, too, is the experience of comparable dispute resolution agencies worldwide. In Ireland as elsewhere the environment for preventing and resolving workplace disputes is changing, driven by such influences as: the changing composition of Maurice Cashell the labour market; the decline of collective representation; Chairman the growth in employment legislation; the rise of small Labour Relations Commission Annual Report 2006 Report Annual Commission Labour Relations firms; the growth of non-union multinationals; the push for public service modernisation; and the professionalisation Chief Executive’s Report The Report of the Commission It is anticipated that the new National Employment for 2006 reflects its role at the Rights Authority should make a major impact upon our centre of industrial dispute employment rights enforcement environment and take resolution in both the private a leading role in ensuring fair and equitable employment and public sectors of the standards in accordance with Irish and European Law. State. The pensions agenda emerged also as a significant issue In this regard, the Commission in 2006 and is likely to continue to play a central role in believes that its statutory both Government and private sector business decisions services – Advisory, throughout the next number of years. It certainly has Conciliation and Rights Commissioners – perform a vital become a particular feature in many enterprise re- and essential role in ensuring that the actual and potential organisation and restructuring agendas in both the State conflicts between workers and their employer are resolved. and private sectors and will potentially enter the equation They provide a professional independent service free of any in the final deliberations of the Benchmarking Body in the additional charge or costs to all employers and all workers autumn of 2007. in the State. A more enlightened debate on pensions and their The Conciliation Service in 2006 recorded a