Employment Rights in Northern Ireland

Conference welcomes the decision not to introduce the Trade Union Bill in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland Executive Minister, Stephan Farry, in making this announcement correctly stated that this piece of legislation was "disproportionate to the problem, or perceived problem, with industrial action".

He went on to identify the positive role that trade unions play in civic society and the fundamental rights to organise. He also stated that he did not believe "that there would be any prospect of agreement on such legislation … given the viewpoints of parties in the Assembly and the Executive".

The devolution of employment legislation and the view of the parties in the Assembly on employment legislation means that the trade union movement in Northern Ireland is in a different position to the situation in Britain.

Over the last few years, the trade union movement in Northern Ireland have been able to win a better deal on key employment rights compared to changes implemented in Britain by the Conservative/Coalition Governments. For example:

• Workers in Northern Ireland have protection against unfair dismissal after 12 months, instead of two years as is the case in Britain.

• Employment tribunal fees have not been introduced in Northern Ireland.

• There is a 90 day consultation period for large scale redundancies whereas this has been reduced to 45 days in Britain.

Workers in Northern Ireland now have employment rights that are significantly better than the rights enjoyed by our trade union brothers and sisters in the rest of the UK.

Due to the balance of power between the different parties in the Executive and Assembly the potential exists for us to lobby and get improvements to employment rights in Northern Ireland.

Conference calls on the Northern Ireland Committee to prioritise lobbying the Executive and Assembly for improvements to employment rights in Northern Ireland