Should Ireland host the new European Labour Authority?

This item was first published in SIPTU's magazine Liberty, September edition

Why is Europe setting up this Authority now?

The announcement that the European Union is to set up a new European Labour Authority (the Authority) is long overdue.  Seventeen million workers now work abroad compared to nine million just a decade ago.  A million and a half people commute across borders every day to work. Two million are posted to work in other Member States. In the absence of adequate protections many of these workers have been open to abuse.

For years the left has called for better cross-border worker rights to combat abuse. In the absence of a Europe-wide framework on exploitation many Member States are already signing bilateral agreements - France alone has already signed eight. It’s estimated that over three hundred bilateral agreements are needed Europe-wide. There is a wide-spread belief that this patchwork of agreements is a poor form of enforcement and hence this proposal to address the issue at a European level. Part of the debate around the proposal concerns the location of the Authority. We should try to get it located in Ireland.

Creating a Successful Authority

For this Authority to be a success it is vital that the trade union movement is involved in its setting-up, running and oversight. It must not undermine national systems of enforcement and inspection. To do all this it needs to an independent and sufficiently well-funded organisation and the plan is that by the middle of 2019 it will be operational with a staff of 100 and a budget of €50 million.

The Authority will help workers get information on their rights, mediate in cross border disputes and support cooperation across Europe on laws and inspections. Discussion is ongoing on whether its role should be supportive, operational or mandatory. In the short to medium term an operational role is most likely, given that mandatory powers would require Treaty changes, for which many Member States are not yet ready.

The benefits of situating the new Authority in Ireland

There are definite advantages of locating the Authority in Ireland. Apart from being an English-speaking country, we have a strong history of trade unionism working for the protection of workers’ rights.

Many of our trade unions serve members in both the north and the south of the island. With 30,000 people crossing the border daily for work, and with the North possibly beyond the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, an Irish location could be advantageous. Also, as President Higgins recently noted at the ILO Conference in Geneva, the trade union movement has been a consistent and courageous opponent of sectarianism.

Ireland is home to almost 400,000 EU migrant workers. Locating here could help to curb a lack of enthusiasm from some central and eastern European towards the setting up of the Authority.

We host organisations such as Eurofound, which researches in areas such as employment and social security and the Posted Workers Directive. Both Authorities would be able to enjoy close and fruitful links.

Ireland should be on a short-list of less than a handful of countries seeking to attract the Authority. The key competitors will be the new Member States of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, which currently have no Headquarters of a European Institution.

To convince the EU will require our politicians to work together. Recently the issue of workers’ rights hasn’t been high on either our MEPs’ agenda or our government’s agenda. Significant progress was made in recent years, when former Minister Ged Nash advanced issues such as JLAs, Collective Bargaining and the Living Wage. Regrettably our current government has not built on this strong legislative history. We will need to see them change their focus and approach if we are to successfully argue for the Authority to be housed in Ireland.

Making a Strong Case for Ireland

If the union movement is fully involved in the design and operation of the new European Labour Authority then it has the potential to be a useful tool in protecting and enhance workers’ rights. Locating the Authority in Ireland has many advantages, including utilising our long experience of workers and government working in unison to improve labour conditions. Unions and government should come together to promote the advantages of siting the new Authority in Ireland.