Speech delivered by David Joyce at the 114th Session of the International Labour Conference.
President and Vice Presidents of the Conference, Distinguished delegates,
Video of speech available here.
I very much welcome this year’s DG report: “A moment of choice: Harnessing artificial intelligence for decent work”. The report outlines how AI’s impact on decent work is a matter of choice, not fate and that with clear rules, strong institutions, inclusive social dialogue, and international cooperation, AI can augment human capabilities, improve job quality, and advance social justice. Without them however, it risks intensifying inequality, eroding rights, and weakening social cohesion.
It was also timely that Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas setting out a sweeping vision on the implications of artificial intelligence on work, on our societies and on human dignity, and also raised fundamental questions on whether technology will be used to advance humanity and decent work. Both reports outline how AI is transforming work in ways that often undermine workers’ rights and working conditions, and offer an alternative vision: one in which humanity retains the right and responsibility to decide collectively how technology is governed, who benefits from it and what limits must be imposed in order to protect people, workers and peace.
All of this has been very topical in Ireland of late as recent figures reveal that the number of young workers in the Irish tech sector had plummeted since 2023, as fears grow that this illustrates a long-feared hit to employment from AI has reached Ireland.
It is the strongly held view of the Workers group that in order to avoid the negative scenario, workers must have democratic voice over technological change; and that AI systems affecting work must be transparent, contestable and subject to human oversight. Collective bargaining over digitalization and algorithmic management is essential.
In Ireland we are engaged in a process with the Department of Enterprise Tourism and Employment and the employers group Ibec to implement the very welcome action plan on the promotion of collective bargaining (required by the EU adequate minimum wages Directive). Ireland remains one of the last states in the EU whereby workers who want it, have no legal right to collective bargaining. For a number of years now we are of the view that our industrial relations environment in Ireland is not fit for purpose and needs change. The so-called voluntarist model is really an employer veto model and does not work for the hundreds of thousands of workers denied the right to Collective Bargaining. We hope the action plan process works, but for that to occur it requires imagination and flexibility from the state and the employers. We will do all we can to make it a success but we won’t participate in a process for 4 years that has little prospect of promoting collective bargaining in a serious and meaningful way.
I also note the DG’s report on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories. It paints a horrific picture of ongoing violence and insecurity, a devastated economy with most workplaces destroyed in Gaza, and in the West Bank movement and access restrictions, intensified military operations, and rising settler violence. Despite the narrative of there being a ceasefire in place in Gaza, violations by Israel continue on a daily basis and hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and injured since its announcement.
Israel is only able to continue its livestreamed genocide against Palestinians due to the ongoing complicity of states, companies and institutions around the world.
I note the Israeli Settlements (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026 is set to be enacted within weeks. Extending such economic and legislative measures is part of Ireland’s third state responsibility under international law and in accordance with the ICJ ruling of July 2024. However, the ICJ has called for states to ban goods and services emerging from the colonisation of occupied Palestinian territory from entering their territory and markets, and the exclusion of services is a deep disappointment.
The stated rationale of the Government is economic risk - an argument that does not hold up to legal or moral scrutiny. The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Slovenia are all already acting on that basis and Ireland as a matter of urgency needs to also.
