Minister for Labour says EU has driven safer and better working conditions<br /> <br />

Minister for Labour says EU has driven safer and better working conditions

" The EU has been and remains to this day a key driver of health and safety

policy and indeed employment and equality rights generally.", Minister for

Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary T.D said today.

Speaking at an event marking 20 years since the passing of the first

comprehensive piece of Irish occupational health and safety legislation

(Safety Health and Welfare at Work Act 1989) The Minister said:

"In a single market, with increased levels of trans-national labour

mobility, we need to ensure that our European workers collectively operate

in workplaces where the same highest standards of health and safety

obtain."

The Minister dismissed claims as misleading that the minimum wage rate

could be changed by the European Union

"In fact the national minimum wage and the sectoral pay rates agreed

through REAs (Registered Employment Agreements) and EROs (Employment Rights

Orders) are key assets in our national legislation which ensure that there

can be no race to the bottom. They ensure, for example, that the particular

judgments made by the European Court of Justice in the Laval and Ruffert

cases - both of which were in the construction sector - could not have been

made if the cases had arisen here in Ireland. This is because we have

collectively bargained rates of pay, through the construction REA, which

are universally applicable across that sector under Irish law."

The Minister noted the tremendous progress made in the field of

occupational health and safety over the past 20 years and the contribution

of the Health and Safety Authority. He acknowledged that much of that

progress and the Authority’s effectiveness sprang from a real partnership

between unions, employers and Government. The Minister reiterated the

Government's commitment to maintaining employment standards, saying:

"Even if the formal social partnership process has stalled slightly, the

Government remains committed to social dialogue and progress on key public

policies of direct interest to employers and workers alike. We will not,

for example, row back on our commitment to safe workplaces. We will not

allow short-term competitive advantage to be sought by increasing the risks

to employees…. this Government will continue to honour the key employment

policy commitments entered into under social partnership agreements. Later

this month, I will move the second stage of the Industrial Relations

Amendment Bill, 2009 in Seanad Eireann. This will strengthen the legal

underpinning of collective bargaining arrangements which are given effect

through registered employment agreements and employment regulation orders".

The major reform of Irish health and safety law in 1989 and the setting up

of the Authority in the same year were inspired by the work of the

Commission of Inquiry on Safety, Health and Welfare at Work which was

chaired Mr. Justice Donal Barrington. The Minister acknowledged the

far-sightedness of that Commission and its contribution to laying the

framework for reform. He also acknowledged the contribution of Mr. Jim

Lyons, Chairman of the HSA, the Board and Martin O'Halloran, CEO.

(This press release is available on the Departments website at

www.entemp.ie)

ENDS/LA338

Press Office

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Kildare Street, Dublin 2

Ph: 631 2200 Fax: 6312828