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Minister Launches New Dispute-Resolution Book

The Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Billy Kelleher, TD, today launched a ground-breaking new study of the activities and functions of Ireland’s main dispute-resolution and employment-rights bodies.

'Employment Dispute Resolution and Standard Setting in the Republic of Ireland', by Professor Paul Teague of Queens University Belfast and Dr. Damian Thomas of the NCPP, features in-depth analysis of the key Irish organisations in this area, and sets their role, and activities against a comparative examination of similar bodies in the UK, Canada and Sweden. 

Sponsored by the NCPP and the Labour Relations Commission, the study demonstrates the importance of having in place an effective, flexible and integrated set of public agencies for dispute resolution and standard setting.  In this regard, Ireland is at the vanguard of international best practice, and the current approach of incremental reform would appear to be the most appropriate and viable. 

Ireland has a reasonably comprehensive and robust dispute-resolution architecture, and the achievement of labour-market stability in the last two decades highlights its capacity to resolve disputes in a fair, expeditious and effective manner. The growing workload of such bodies, however, highlights the importance of having in place an appropriate policy framework for addressing workplace disputes and grievances.  Recent years have also witnessed the emergence of a more expansive institutional and legal framework in relation to employment rights and standards. 

A central proposition of the study is that the employment relations and labour market environment in which these agencies operate is changing rapidly due to a combination of factors, including:

• The changing composition of the workforce
• Declining union density
• The proliferation of employment rights
• The growth of non-union multinationals
• The push for public service modernisation
• The professionalisation of HRM and
• The growth of the SME sector

These changes have placed an onus on the various dispute resolution and standard setting agencies to develop their repertoire of services in order to keep apace with the dynamics of labour-market and workplace change. 

The book highlights how the Equality Tribunal has successfully developed and implemented a Mediation Service as an alternative and innovative form of dispute resolution to the traditional quasi-judicial process of an equality investigation.   The high approval ratings for the service across all user groups - respondents, claimants and their representatives – confirms that it is now perceived as a credible and legitimate avenue of redress for dealing with alleged claims of discrimination under the relevant equality legislation. 

Since 1991, the Labour Relations Commission has gradually developed an effective, flexible and integrated conflict management system premised on broad range of activities, services and programmes.  In this context the development of a new Workplace Mediation Service (WMS) was a highly innovative initiative as it brings the LRC into new terrain in that it is firmly focused on resolving disputes involving individuals and small groups.   Following a successful pilot phase the WMS is now being fully integrated into the core suite of dispute resolution activities offered by the Commission.

In both instances, mediation is considered to generate a number of benefits, including:

• Lower costs
• Win-win situations
• Creative solutions
• A sense of empowerment
• Improved relationships, and
• Increased speed and efficiency

The reform of the public dispute-resolution systems in other countries has also tended to be strongly incremental in character.  In Canada, the government has taken the lead in developing a new strategy on dispute resolution.  In 2005, it passed the Public Service Labour Relations Act, which obliged all federal departments and agencies to establish an informal conflict management system.  The purpose of this system is to introduce new approaches for the prevention and resolution of workplace disputes but in a way that builds upon established employment relations procedures such as collective bargaining.   Indeed a strong theme of the Canadian approach has been their emphasis on using alternative dispute resolution (ADR) techniques to complement and enhance existing practices.  The Canadian case study also demonstrates that ADR principles and practices can assist in resolving rights-based disputes such as unfair dismissal cases. 

This study demonstrates the importance of having in place an effective, flexible and integrated set of public agencies for dispute resolution and standard setting.  In this regard Ireland is in the vanguard of international best practice and the current approach of incremental reform would appear to be the most appropriate and viable.  Interestingly, since this research was undertaken, one of the agencies the Labour Inspectorate has been reconfigured and expanded as part the new National Employment Rights Authority (NERA). 

Notwithstanding progress made to date, the sheer pace of change in our labour market allied to the ongoing dynamics of workplace change necessitates the need for further reform and this study suggests a number of proposals that could inform this process.

The Irish dispute-resolution and employment-rights bodies must continue to improve their performance by learning from other jurisdictions and also through increased collaboration between each other in terms of sharing information, expertise and practical knowledge.

Significantly, the drift towards a more legalistic industrial relations system in Ireland, premised on individual employment rights, actually reaffirms the need to develop complementary approaches to dispute resolution, and that ADR approaches such as mediation are a credible and effective approach to addressing alleged infringements of individual employment rights.  

Although this research recognises that further reform will be challenging it suggests that Ireland in addressing these issues can draw on a number of deep rooted characteristics of its existing dispute resolution system.

Firstly there is actually a long standing tradition of adopting innovative approaches to dispute resolution as evidenced by the establishment of the Rights Commissioners Service some forty years ago, as a third party non-adversarial problem-solving approach to resolving individual and/or small-scale IR disputes.

Secondly the emphasis within Social partnership on both problem solving deliberation and the importance of adopting a partnership style approach to employment relations provides a supportive environment in which to both explore new ways of resolving and avoiding disputes and ensuring compliance with employment standards. 

'Employment Dispute Resolution and Standard Setting in the Republic of Ireland' (2008) is published by Oak Tree Press, price €25.00.  Copies can be ordered at www.oaktreepress.com, on Tel: (021) 431 3855 or Email: info@oaktreepress.com.