Breakfast Business with Joe Lynam
The Collective Bargaining Roadmap will be published today
05 Nov 2025
Chapter 1: What is the Collective Bargaining Roadmap and its significance?
Now today, the Department of Enterprise will be publishing its Collective Bargaining Roadmap as part of the 2024 EU directive that aims to promote collective bargaining on wages in all member states. Alan Dillon is Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise with special responsibility for small business. And he joins us now. Good morning, Alan. Morning, Tom.
So, Alan, this is something which applies. Tell me what this means and particularly what it means for businesses and also for employees.
So today, Tom, we're announcing a comprehensive strategy that's designed to reinforce Ireland's long-standing system of voluntary industrial relations. And this is a five-year strategy and the plan introduces practical measures to promote collective bargaining, ensuring that our workplaces remain both fair, productive and resilient.
This strategy has been developed in close collaboration with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and IBEC and it delivers on a key programme for government commitment. It has been worked through the Labour Employer Economic Forum who have asked for it and it's very much an action plan that sets out 20 practical actions across five key pillars
that's all designed to make our workplaces as I said fairer more productive and resilient and we all understand that strong dialogue builds strong economies and in doing so collective bargaining when it works well it prevents escalation and it gives both workers and employers a constructive way to solve issues before they reach crisis point and this plan strengthens those early engagement channels while also keeping workplaces more productive.
the EU threshold for collective bargaining is 80%.
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Chapter 2: How does the new strategy aim to promote collective bargaining in Ireland?
I understand that Ireland falls some way short of that.
Well, it does, and it has been called for by both the EU and, as I said earlier, our own social partners under the EU Adequate Minimum Wage Directive. Countries with lower collective bargaining coverage must create enabling conditions. And that's what we are doing through this action plan. It is very much...
part of government's plan and indeed government's role is to support both sides, making dialogue easier, ensuring that things are transparent and more effective for businesses. This will mean fewer disputes. It will also ensure that there's better staff retention and improved productivity.
For workers, we want to ensure it means better fairness, their voice is being heard, but also better security. And through the practical actions that we have implemented, from better research to capacity building, and also modernising our existing industrial dispute machinery through the Work Relations Commission and the Labour Court.
And I want to come back. It's an important step. I want to come on to that in a moment. But first of all, SIP2 issued a statement yesterday saying that the government is talking out of both sides of its mouth.
And in fact, there are a number of companies where collective bargaining, particularly it mentioned, name checked a number of international companies where collective bargaining does not apply.
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Chapter 3: What practical actions are included in the five-year strategy?
Where you have companies which refuse under your roadmap, under the changes that you're bringing in, where you have companies that refuse to engage with collective bargaining, will there be any change? Will they be forced to engage?
Well, this is very much part of this strategy, and we do need to take a closer look in regards to this. And workers should always have the right to representation, and employers should have clear channels for engagement. And I suppose this isn't about imposing unions. It's about empowering dialogue, because when workers and employers talk, everyone wins.
And this plan supports fair dialogue in whatever form that that takes. But Minister, can I ask?
Unions or otherwise. Can I ask? But yes, you're saying you're continuing, you're looking at it or you're continuing to look at it, but you've been looking at it for some time. My question is, will this require companies that don't engage in collective bargaining to do so?
No, it won't. And I suppose Ireland's tradition of volunteers has been to the core of our representation. And this means that no one is forced into union membership or agreements.
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Chapter 4: What challenges does Ireland face in meeting the EU collective bargaining threshold?
And as I said earlier, this isn't about imposing unions. This is about having an action plan that can move the dial in regards to how we work closer together. And this has been formed with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. They have been very much to the fore of this, along with IBEC. And indeed, government's role is to ensure that we support both sides and make it easier.
And I think this action plan is very much an Irish solution to an Irish challenge today. built with social partners and indeed taking best practices from Europe and that will build on our own system of voluntary industrial relations and I think this will result in protections for Irish competitiveness while strengthening fairness across the board.
Okay, so you mentioned earlier that you want to see a modernisation of the Workplace Relations Commission and indeed the Labour Court. What does that mean?
Well, certainly the place of work has changed dramatically. So in terms of the WRC or the Labour Court, there is an investment plan that will be required in terms of digitalisation, and that is very much part of this strategy. We are looking to invest... over the term of this five years. And we see how important the WRC is in resolving disputes, but also the Labour Court.
And indeed, we recognise that collective bargaining does put a firm focus on how valuable workers are.
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Chapter 5: Will companies be compelled to engage in collective bargaining under the new roadmap?
play in specific sectors we have seen most recently if you look at the joint labor committees um through the early years or child care sectors we have seen how employers and workers have been brought together to agree fair pay and conditions uh and when they work well they prevent disputes and give business certainty and we've seen that in in most recent employment regulations
I understand, Minister, but will this mean any changes to how either the WRC or the Labour Court operates? In practical terms, for anybody taking a case or for any companies defending a case, will there be changes to how that currently happens?
They will be worked through, Tom. And again, I suppose this morning we're launching the strategy. It's a five-year plan.
Chapter 6: How will the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court be modernized?
Very much the WRC and the Labour Court will be part of that. There's always a continuous improvement programme we will work through. with Audra Call and her team and the Labour Court in regards to any additional needs that they require over this plan.
OK, thank you, Minister. That's Alan Dillon, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise.