THE CABINET has approved the publication of new employment rights legislation which a number of unions had set as a pre- condition for entering the forthcoming national pay talks.
The new Employment Law Compliance Bill will give legislative effect to provisions in the Towards 2016 national agreement and is expected to be published by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin in the next few days.
Under the legislation, the new National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) will be established on a statutory footing.
The Bill will also stipulate that workers recruited to companies through employment agencies will have to be paid Irish rates of pay.
Under the legislation, all agency workers will have to be paid at least the minimum wage or the rate set out in registered employment agreements for particular sectors where they apply.
Mr Martin told The Irish Times recently that the Bill would let employment inspectors prosecute employers breaching the work permit system. "The [ existing] 2003 Act did not have that in it - gardaí were to do it - and it was falling between two stools.
"I am insisting that we are not putting in 90 inspectors and developing this very powerful agency (NERA) if they do not have power to go after those who are flagrantly abusing the work permit system," the Minister stated.
It is expected that as part of the new legislation, employers found to have breached employment legislation could face fines of up to €250,000 or three years in prison.
The legislation will also containa "whistle-blowers" element which will protect those who report breaches of employment law.
It is expected that under the legislation the Government will appoint a new NERA advisory board which will have a chairman, three nominees from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, three from employers' group Ibec and four put forward by the Minister.
Siptu, the country's largest union, had expressed concern about the delay in publishing the employment rights compliance legislation.
Siptu had signalled that it would not consider entering talks on a new deal until outstanding elements in the existing agreement had been addressed. The Government is also planning separate legislation dealing specifically with employment agencies. This will introduce a new licensing system and a code of practice.
However, the Government will seek to leave the controversial issue of pay parity for agency workers as part of the new national talks, which are expected to get under way in April.
Trade unions have insisted that there has to be equal treatment for agency workers.
Employers are opposed to any new measures which would curtail flexibility in the labour market.