Workers' Rights

Strengthen trade unions

The Workers’ Party recognises the importance of trade unions in confronting, through collective organisation, the pressures facing workers. We have for many decades built strong links with the trade union movement. The ability to defend workers’ interests and to fight for higher wages and better conditions remains an essential role for unions. The Workers’ Party believes the ability of workers to organise in the workplace must be strengthened through the introduction of union recognition legislation.

Legislate for Trade Union Recognition

Amend the 1990 Industrial Relations Act

We believe that the 1990 Industrial Relations Act places undue constraints on the right to strike and on union organisation. The Workers’ Party supports amending the Act to protect and strengthen the rights of unions to defend workers’ interests without undue interference from the law and employers.

Amending the 1990 Act would be an interim step towards a comprehensive Trade Union Rights and Freedoms Bill to reform industrial relations law and secure better protection for organised labour and the defence of its political freedoms.

The Workers’ Party believes:

• That all adults have the right to meaningful work with decent rates of pay and decent working conditions.
• That all workers have the right to join and be represented by a trade union, and that union recognition legislation be introduced immediately.
• That the 1990 Industrial Relations Act should be amended as a first step towards a comprehensive Trade Union Rights and Freedoms Bill.
• That an independently calculated living wage should be implemented without delay.
• That the exploitation of jobseekers through unpaid internships and exploitative labour-market schemes be outlawed.
• That zero-hours contracts, no matter how they are labelled, be outlawed.
• That staff recruited through private or other labour agencies must not be paid less than other workers in the sector or employed under terms and conditions inferior to the industry norm.
• That all workers are entitled to proper pension entitlements.
• That workers are entitled to proper remuneration for the hidden costs associated with their employment, including travel and home-based office equipment.
• That social welfare recipients, whether due to unemployment, illness or long-term disability, are entitled to respectful and dignified treatment by the state and state agencies.

The Workers’ Party supports the trade union movement’s charter of workers’ rights.