Congress Welcomes European Ruling on Pensions
26 Jan 2007
Calls on BOI to abide by Labour Court
Congress today welcomed a European ruling that could ensure workers do not lose out on pension entitlements when their company goes bankrupt.
Congress General Secretary David Begg described the ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) as "very timely" in the context of current discussions on pensions and the high-profile pension dispute in the Bank of Ireland.
Following a case taken by the Amicus union, over the collapse of a UK firm, the ECJ ruled that countries must put systems in place to protect the pension entitlements of workers, where a company goes bankrupt with a deficit in its pension fund. Ireland does not any such measure in place.
Commenting on the ECJ ruling, Mr Begg Begg, said: "Congress, IBEC and Government are committed, under the terms of Towards 2016, to agree on a pension's strategy by September of this year. A Green Paper to facilitate this process is to be published by Easter. The ECJ decision will help to focus minds on the need to tackle the pensions' crisis in the private sector. Congress believes that the state has a key role in this and will ultimately have to introduce mandatory employer and employee state backed second pillar pension schemes."
Referring to a recent decision by the Labour Court in relation to the Bank of Ireland dispute, Mr Begg added:
"The Labour Court Recommendation is carefully balanced to take account of the vital interests of the bank and its employees. I hope it will be implemented as it stands by both sides of the dispute, because it provides a way out of what could otherwise be a very difficult industrial relations situation."
He noted that Congress was monitoring the Bank of Ireland case very closely because of its wider implications for pensions in Ireland and for industrial relations generally.
ends
Note to Editors
In November, 2006 Congress General Secretary David Begg made a speech in Waterford pointing out that the failure of a number of major private sector employers to observe industrial relations' procedures was undermining the voluntarist nature of the Irish model ).