Employers and unions were last night continuing efforts to reach agreement on new employment laws that could form part of a national partnership deal.
The two sides returned to talks at Government Buildings at 6pm, having made progress in negotiations over the weekend. They are focusing, in particular, on union demands for new legislation preventing employers from making workers redundant in order to replace them with cheaper labour.
Employer bodies are not opposed in principle, but the parties have found it difficult to come up with a legal formula acceptable to both sides. Employers insist that any new legislation must not interfere with their right to make business decisions such as outsourcing operations or reducing staffing levels.
The task facing the negotiators is to find a legislative formula which meets employer concerns, while remaining meaningful enough for unions to support. The talks on a successor to Sustaining Progress began two months ago, with mid-March set as the initial target date for agreement.
The process quickly became bogged down, however, in disagreement over the employment standards issue, which the Irish Congress of Trade Unions identified from the outset as a priority.
Employer bodies said they could not accept new employment laws that would increase the regulatory burden on members.
The progress made in recent days, however, has given rise to renewed hope among the parties that a deal can be achieved.
If the outline of an agreement on employment standards can be reached this week, the sides could move on to pay and other issues in the hope of finalising an overall deal by Easter. The Government would be expected, in the meantime, to confirm a package of measures aimed at improving enforcement of existing labour laws.
A new enforcement agency and the appointment of up to 40 additional labour inspectors - there are currently 31 - are among the expected measures.
