The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) is considering a formal complaint to EU authorities over the way the Government has transposed an EU directive on employee consultation into Irish law.
New rules designed to allow for greater consultation between employers and their staff will come into force in September after being signed into law today.
The Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act 2006 establishes a general framework setting out the minimum requirements for the right to information and consultation of staff in undertakings with at least 50 employees.
Ictu is unhappy, however, because the Act does not require an employer to set up any new consultation procedure unless 10 per cent of its staff, or a minimum of 15 employees, ask for this to happen.
David Begg, general secretary of Ictu, said that the transposition of the EU directive into Irish law was based very much on a minimalist interpretation.
"The provision that a certain number of employees have to make a request before an information and consultation structure is an incorrect interpretation of the EU directive," he said.
"We are considering lodging a complaint to the EU."
At the moment, the information and consultation rights of employees are limited to specific situations such as collective redundancies and transfers of undertakings.
The new system provides for employers to supply information and consultation on issues such as the probable development of an undertaking's activities and the economic situation.
Employees of foreign-owned multinationals will not, however, be entitled to information before decisions are made by the parent company on issues such as redundancy.
Only decisions being made by local management will require consultation.
The legislation will apply to organisations with at least 150 employees from September 4th 2006, to those with at least 100 employees from 23 March 2007 and to those with 50 employees or more from 23 March 2008.
