The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said today (Monday, 6th July) that the government must move to ensure company directors can be disqualified if they breach their obligations to their workers. Congress General Secretary Patricia King said that the law must be changed to ensure that “another Clerys cannot be allowed to happen. As matters stand, it could happen again tomorrow morning.” A Congress delegation met with Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, to propose changes to current legislation that meant employers would be required to enter a 30 day period of consultation with workers, before redundancies could occur. If employers failed to comply any redundancies would be considered void and the staff would still be entitled to wages. In addition, workers and unions could apply to have the company directors – or someone acting on their behalf – restricted or disqualified for at least five years. The move comes as up to 800 union delegates, observers and visitors gather in Ennis, County Clare, for the opening tomorrow of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Biennial Delegate Conference, 2015. The conference theme is ‘Living Wage, Strong Economy’ and it will run from 6th – 9th July. Over the course of the three days delegates will discuss and debate a range of motions on issues such as low pay and low hour contracts, precarious work, public services, privatisation and TTIP. For a full conference schedule and all motions click here
Congress proposes a legal change to ‘stop another Clerys’
