Only three days left to get your submission into the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment's public consultation on Ireland's action plan to promote collective bargaining.   

This consultation is an extremely important opportunity to shape the future of our workplaces, our rights, and our collective strength. It is open now, and will close on Monday 12th May. 

Collective bargaining is the process by which working people come together and negotiate with employers, through their trade unions, to determine fair conditions of employment.  

The right to collectively bargain is essential to ensuring that working people have the capacity to improve their living standards, provide for their families and build a strong foundation for our economy. 

At present, Ireland’s collective bargaining coverage only amounts to around one-third of all employment. 

Under Article 4 of the EU Adequate Minimum Wages Directive, member states with less than 80% collective bargaining coverage are mandated to provide a framework of enabling conditions for collective bargaining and establish an action plan to progressively increase the collective bargaining coverage rate. The action plan should be established after consulting the social partners or by agreement with them.  

Fórsa has produced a sample document to help guide you in filling out the public consultation form, with a run through of each question in the consultation along with guidelines on possible responses. You can view it here.

You can make your submission here.

The deadline is Monday 12th May.  

Last week Fórsa also held an online webinar to provide information about the public consultation and inspire attendees to make their own contributions through the online consultation survey.  

The lunchtime session featured contributions from Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) general secretary Owen Reidy and Fórsa general secretary Kevin Callinan. The webinar covered recommendations for the submission from both ICTU and Fórsa, and also outlined how you can and should use stories from your workplace to submit your own thoughts on this consultation. 

Fórsa’s director of campaigns, Kevin Donoghue, encouraged every trade union member to contribute to this important consultation and draw on their experiences to inform Ireland's action plan.  

He said: “It is important that we as trade unionists make a significant contribution to the number of submissions received in the consultation. The more members who speak up, the louder our collective voice. When we act together, we win together. This consultation is an opportunity to strengthen collective bargaining rights and encourage greater levels of trade union coverage.  Raise your voice and encourage your colleagues and coworkers to raise theirs too.” 

If you have questions about Fórsa's submission to the consultation or need help with your own, you can get in touch with us at campaigns@forsa.ie. 

Join a union that wins. Join Fórsa.