Latest news with #GoodJobsEmploymentRightsBill
Belfast Telegraph
20-05-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Gerry Murphy: Top 100 Companies reminds us all of what's at stake in Good Jobs Bill
We also noticed Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald's comments that the 'work we are taking forward on the Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill is crucial for creating sustainable employment opportunities and boosting the local economy'. 'It will help ensure fair wages, better working conditions and job security for workers.' We, of course, agree and noted too that most of the companies in the Belfast Telegraph Top 100 are unionised or practicing the kind of good relations and conditions for their employees that the minister aspires to achieve in her Good Jobs Bill. In short, and despite some scaremongering about the 'cost to business', successful companies have little to fear from having trade unions about the place, or the work-life balance measures coming into law in Great Britain with Labour's Employment Rights Bill and proposed for our devolved 'Good Jobs' legislation. 'Decent work aids retention and loyalty is the reward a respected member of staff extends to a good employer' Most of the list of NI's most profitable companies recognise trade unions and set terms and conditions for their staff through collective bargaining agreements. These cover substantial numbers of our working population. As Manufacturing NI's Stephen Kelly pointed out 'whilst 1% of manufacturers are large (more than 250 employees), they account for almost half of employment and more than half of turnover' in that sector. Additionally, many of the companies listed have in their existing employment contracts many of the rights and entitlements proposed for all workers in the Good Jobs Bill, such as family-friendly policies like maternal, parental and bereavement leave. These companies face no surprises from Dr Archibald's proposals. These proposed policies will only be a concern for a minority of employers who hope for some competitive edge over the many decent bosses at the expense of their workers. But these perceptions get noted, not least by workers who are aware that the grass is often greener with some other, better, boss. Decent work aids retention and loyalty is the reward a respected member of staff extends to a good employer. It should also be noted that we have been focused on NI-headquartered companies. And impressive as they are, they are not the only large employers here. Many are international, such as Spirit, Allstate, Citibank, Seagate, Thales and Santander. Some are based in the Republic, such as Dunnes, Primark, First Trust and Bank of Ireland. More are headquartered in GB, and most of these unionised companies are also preparing for similar changes with the Labour government's Employment Rights Bill, presently at an advanced stage and likely to be in statute within a year. Indeed, many of the aspects proposed in the NI 'Good Jobs' Bill are already in statute in GB. The Department for the Economy consultation process completed last summer contained 31 proposals. Of these, 19 are proposals that will simply bring NI into line with GB. They are largely uncontroversial and will not pose any significant cost or administrative burden on businesses here. Indeed, most were passed by Conservative governments at Westminster. The remaining 12 proposals in the proposed NI legislation are currently under active consideration by the Labour Government and ensure that working people in NI will not be left behind again. Polling in GB has shown the Employment Rights Bill to be one of the few widely popular policies of the Starmer administration. This legislation demonstrates the NI Assembly getting around to (after a few suspensions) using its devolved powers over employment law for the first time since 2016. So, the proposed Labour Party legislation at Westminster will shortly be, in the employment contracts of GB firms such as Tesco, Concentrix, Bamford Bus Company (Wrightbus), Four Seasons, G4S, Sainsbury's, Boots, PwC, Lloyds, Asda and BT. This is not intended to sound like an endorsement of all of these employers. Some are hostile to unions and many have been caught up in the wave of industrial action brought on by the cost of living crisis since 2022. At the same time, those firms which did have disputes all reached resolution because of direct negotiations with the trade unions representing their staff. Most pay issues in the private sector were amicably settled with a great deal less stress than the situation we all experienced here across the public sector under the last belligerent Conservative government. The Good Jobs bill deserves to be taken to the MLAs we elected in our devolved Assembly, to be debated and discussed, its merits measured and amended if needed by local politicians accountable to an electorate who we firmly believe, support the proposals for better and fairer workplaces.
Irish Times
28-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Improved workers' rights divide sides up North
Employers groups and trade unions in Northern Ireland will learn today how recently appointed Minister for the Economy Caoimhe Archibald intends to proceed with the proposals to update and reform employment legislation that has sharply divided employers and trade unions when she briefs the Assembly on the Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill. Emmet Malone reports. The number of companies launching on global stock markets for the first time grew by 20 per cent to 291 in the first three months of the year, a report published on Monday shows. But, as Barry O'Halloran reports, the Irish exchange has some particular challenges. Awareness of the digital euro among Irish retailers was lower than in any of eight other countries surveyed, with 44 per cent saying they had not heard of the digital euro. That compares with an average of 29 per cent across Europe. A similar percentage said they were unsure about the potential benefits of a digital euro. Eoin Burke-Kennedy looks at the on-again, off-again war of words between US president Donald Trump and Federal Reserve chairman on interest rates ahead of a crunch meeting of the Fed. READ MORE What baffles Isabel Berwick most about workplaces in 2026 is the enduring prevalence of shouty, negative and underling-blaming leadership styles. Standing in for Pilita Clark, she argues that leaders who operate a culture of fear and criticism don't get good results. Even if you don't care about 'snowflake' staff, lashing out at people is bad for business. In our Opinion slot this week, Fianna Fáil TD Martin Daly says that as Donald Trump targets universities, the State should double down on producing more PhD graduates here to ramp up our innovation and research capabilities. And as the Government confirms yet another delay in the introduction of auto-enrolment , the time has come for a dose of realism - where proper timelines and political commitment deliver a better outcome for workers with no occupational pensions. Finally, Proinsias O'Mahony says Tesla's earnings call was less a financial update than a sermon from Musk's pulpit of techno-rapture, rhapsodising about humanoid robots, trillion-dollar energy markets, and even 'heaven on Earth'. Stay up to date with all our business news: sign up to our Business Today daily email news digest. If you'd like to read more about the issues that affect your finances try signing up to On the Money , the weekly newsletter from our personal finance team, which will be issued every Friday to Irish Times subscribers.
Irish Times
27-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Minister to outline scale of reform to Northern Ireland employment legislation
Employers groups and trade unions in Northern Ireland will learn on Monday how recently appointed Minister for the Economy Caoimhe Archibald intends to proceed with the proposals to update and reform employment legislation tabled by her predecessor Conor Murphy when she briefs the Assembly on Good Jobs Employment Rights Bill. The statement comes more than six months after a public consultation on the wide-ranging proposals closed and with the respective representative organisations said to be deeply polarised on the scale of the measures originally envisaged. Changes to the current employment legislative framework were set out under about 30 headings in the 159-page document that accompanied the consultation. They included new rules on zero-hours contracts, fire and rehire, union access to workplaces, work/life balance measures and a good deal more. Roger Pollen, head of the Northern Irish Federation of Small Businesses, says the organisation's membership was stunned by the scale of what was being envisaged and while some of the proposals are 'common sense', recent increases in employer social security, lingering post-Brexit challenges and now huge uncertainty around tariffs all combined to make this 'a shocking time to be trying to impose a whole raft of extra measures on businesses'. READ MORE 'Northern Ireland has fallen behind the employment law changes that have happened in both GB and in Ireland so there's quite a significant degree of catching up required,' he says. 'But in addition to catching up, there's a lot of other things being included here, such as massive trade union involvement in small businesses, notice periods for strike action ... a lot of really concerning issues that may be suddenly thrust on businesses.' Gerry Murphy of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions remains confident the detail of the Bill to be announced on Monday by Ms Archibald will include most of his organisation's key objectives and says the legislation, if passed, would, as originally suggested by Mr Murphy, be welcomed by good employers. 'The Bill will go some way in addressing the disparities between responsible employers, who offer fair wages and decent working conditions, and those who rely on exploitative, low-cost labour models,' he says. ' Many ethical businesses face competition from unscrupulous employers using precarious and exploitative work practices to keep costs down. By establishing these minimum standards, it will help create a fairer environment that encourages and gives cover to employers who invest in their workforce.' Mark McAllister, chief executive of the Labour Relations Agency, broadly equivalent to the Workplace Relations Commission, agrees many of the measures envisaged are either intended to bring the Northern Ireland position into line with British legislation enacted between 2016 and 2020 and also to ensure it is not left behind again by the Labour government's new employment rights legislation. 'Much of that is relatively straightforward,' he says, 'not big ticket items. But there is also some fairly some fairly radical stuff, including on sectoral collective bargaining, which would be more in line with some of the provisions in Ireland but would represent seismic change in this jurisdiction.' The employers, he says, are arguing 'the sheer volume of all this is overwhelming and the timing couldn't be worse. The unions are saying they've been waiting for a decade for a new floor on employment rights, and it's time the changes were implemented. So things have become very polarised.' Whatever the Bill contains at this stage, it will have a potentially tricky road ahead as a measure of cross-party support is required and, says Mr Pollen, members of the Committee for the Economy, chaired by the DUP's Philip Brett raised some significant concerns when department officials appeared before it. Monday's announcement then may simply mark a stepping up in tussle between the two sides.
