Sinn Féin and DUP at Loggerheads Over ‘Good Jobs Bill’

Earlier this year, Westminster began rolling out new rights for workers which include such things as changes to statutory sick pay, day one family leave, whistle-blowing protections and measures aimed at strengthening the rights of Trade Unions. This is reversal of trends that had been dominant under the previous Conservative government which had sought to curtail Trade Union rights as it could such as with the Trade Union Act of 2016 (which imposed more onerous requirements on organising a strike). Of course, these new rights were not extended to Northern Ireland, as that competency is devolved.

We have faced a somewhat longer road. Whilst the Labour government has brought in and begun enacting reforms, it was two years ago and in the teeth of the election that brought Labour to power that then economy minister Conor Murphy proposed a package of reforms to our own employment laws. As per the BBC report at the time…

Mr Murphy said zero hour contracts could be replaced with a “banded hours’” system, similar to one in the Republic of Ireland….Under that system a banded contract gives a worker the right to work an average of the hours in a specified band for 12 months….Mr Murphy’s proposals also include the right to a week’s unpaid carers leave in any 12-month period, which would bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK…A further proposal is that people should have the right to request flexible working as soon as they start a job rather than having to wait six months.

These proposals, put out for consultation later that year, became the basis of the ‘Good Jobs Bill’ that are now being shepherded forward by incumbent economy minister Caoimhe Archibald. The Economy Department has a summary of the proposed legislation on their webpage with the keys points being…

investing in affordable childcare and fair pay for childcare workers;

creating more and better paid apprenticeships and skills academies;

replacing zero hour contracts with contracts that provide flexibility and protect workers rights;

strengthening the role of trade unions, particularly in low-paying sectors;

altering our economic structure by supporting industries that provide Good Jobs;

harnessing the unrealised potential of the Social Economy; and

improving careers advice, including in schools, so that people are fully informed about the opportunities available to them.

The Northern Ireland legislation seems more expansive than the changes Labour brought in, with zero-hour contract to be removed and expanded workers rights implemented. But things have run into difficulties, which is important to keep in mind given that Stormont is heading for an election next year and laws that don’t complete their journey through Stormont could be consigned to the legislative graveyard. The clock is ticking in other words.

According to this BBC report from late May by John Campbell and Jayne McCormack, some business groups have called for a delay in the proposals whilst elements within the DUP and the UUP have been critical of aspects of the proposed changes with most of the disputes centring on the rights Trade Unions would receive under the legislation…

This is the most controversial part of the bill and has generated the greatest opposition from business groups. Currently unions can only start the process of seeking recognition, external in a workplace if there are at least 21 employees. The new law would cut that threshold to 10 employees.

More concerning for some businesses is the proposal to give unions greater rights to meet a workforce. Currently, unions generally only have a right to enter a workplace if they are already recognised by the employer. The bill would give unions a “right to request” access to meet with workers for recruitment and representation. Access would not be automatic, but employers would not be permitted to “unreasonably” withhold it.

Much of the critique of the bill from opponents has focused on whether it has received a sufficient level of scrutiny with DUP MLA Jonathan Buckley describing it as a ‘ham-fisted piece of legislation’ back in April. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which supports the bill, has described the opposition as a ‘time-wasting exercise‘.

Earlier this week Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly said that Sinn Féin was trying to ‘bully and bounce’ her into supporting the ‘half-baked’ legislation

On the trade union access clauses in the bill, she said: “These are the most aggressive and expansionist access to trade unions, not just in the UK and Ireland but across the European Union. “There is not a single business across Northern Ireland which supports the minister’s proposals,” she added.

but she did suggest that the DUP would support the bill if Sinn Féin split it and removed the new proposed rights for Trade Unions, to subject those proposals to further scrutiny though this illicited a negative response from the Trade Unions. Sinn Féin itself through First Minister Michelle O’Neill has accused the DUP of ‘blocking’ the bill in response…

O’Neill said her party was disappointed at being unable to “get it over the line” on Thursday, but held out hope that it can be progressed before the assembly election next May. “The DUP continue to block this really important legislation getting over the line, this is about workers’ rights, this is about supporting women in the workplace so I don’t support their denial of rights…It’s for the DUP to explain why they continue to block it.”

The outcome of this argument over policy remains to be seen.