The Crisis and Precarious Work

Irish Economic Policy Conference 2014

Dr. Thomas Turner & Dr. Michelle O’Sullivan,

University of Limerick

Outline

• Focus on – Challenges for unions following crisis

• public & private sectors

• immigration

– Challenge for dispute resolution system following crisis

Union density 1925-2013

3

Public and private sector union density

Trends in working conditions

5

2007 2013

% change

Casual and part-time workers on live register

20,457 81,382 +300%

2007 2013(Q1)

Trends in part-time work 380,000 454,000 +19%

% employ labour force 18% 25% Average weekly earnings 2008 (Q1) 2013 (Q1)

All employees €704.3 696.6 -1%

Private sector 642.5 628.3 -2%

Public sector 904.8 913.4 +1%

Employee experiences

6

European social surveys 2006 and 2012 (Irish results)

2006 2012 Any period of unemployment and work seeking lasting 12 months or more?

46% 60%

Any period of unemployment and work seeking within last five years?

50% 72%

Living comfortably on income 48% 22%

Coping with income 41% 46%

Difficulty with income 11% 32% Mean Satisfaction with your job (range 0 to 10)

7.3 7.3

Allowed to influence policy decisions (range 0 to 10)

4.3 3.9

Allowed to decide how work done 6.1 5.4 (range 0 to 10)

Crisis & Unions in Public Sector

• Union presence still strong but likely difficulty in maintaining density levels– Pay cuts & deteriorating conditions– Voluntary redundancies amongst older age groups– Lack of solidarity & consensus amongst unions

Challenges in Private sector

• Difficulty in accessing & protecting workers

• Changing profile of union members (about 20% are unionised)

• Fragility of wage setting for precarious workers

• Tensions regarding migrant workers

Low pay 2/3 medium earnings=€10.86

Low pay

Private sector

%

Private sector

Less than €8.23 10% 2.5%

JLC: €8.23-€9.68 52% 13%

€9.69 – €10.86 38% 9.5%

Low pay total 100% 25%

Wage setting mechanisms

• Threats to JLCs & REAs

• Importance of State support – Labour Party

• Costs – loss of protection, more bureaucratic system

• Benefits – some JLCs moved to REA system

Hourly Earnings By Nationality & Unionisation – Private Sector

Low Pay (2/3 of median earnings)

Above median hourly earnings

Member of a trade

union

Yes

%

No

%

Yes

%

No

%

Irish nationals

16

27

51

40

Non-Irish nationals 25 37 31 25

Original EU 14 15 27 41 38

EU accession 36 47 24 14

Others 20 32 33 30

Attitudes to allowing immigrants access in EU countries

Allow in the same ethnic race as Irish nationals

(Scored 4=allow many to live here to 1=Allow none)

Allow a different ethnic race from Irish nationals

(Scored 4=allow many to live here to 1=Allow none)

2006

2010

Change

2006-2010

2006

2010

Change

2006-2010

Ireland 2.94 2.64 -10% 2.78 2.49 -10%

Ranked

out of 12 countries

3

8

2

7

Immigration – good for the

economy (Scored 10=extremely good to

0=extremely bad)

Immigrants make it better place to live

(Scored 10=extremely good to 0=extremely bad)

Ireland 6.05 4.43 -27% 5.72 5.09 -11%

Ranked

out of 12 countries

1

11

3

6

Proportion agreeing with allowing in many or no immigrants from the same or different ethnic race

13

Allow many from same ethnic race as majority to live here

Allow none from same ethnic race as majority to

live here**

2002 %

2010

%

2002

%

2010

%

Ireland 23 16 4 14

Average for 12 countries

15

19

6

8

Allow many from different ethnic race

as majority to live here

Allow none from different ethnic race as majority to

live here

2002

2010

2002

2010

Ireland 12 12 6 17

Average for 12 countries

10

12

11

12

Crisis & Dispute Resolution

• Crisis led to significant increases in referrals to state bodies

• Such increases a symptom of industrial relations & legal systems

Referrals to State bodies

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

Rights Commissioner EAT

2006

2010

Regulated;Restrictions tocollectivising

Disorganised; Reliance on law

Unionised sub-

system

Non-unionised

sub-system

Sub-systems

Contrast: The Swedish Employment Rights System

• Collectivist orientation –no state agencies except LC

• Cases referred to the Labour Court: averaging 400 to 450

• Union involvement in the dispute resolution process is mandated through legislation

• Disputes handled directly between union and employer

• Minimum intervention of the law or third parties

• In many instances, the ‘priority right of interpretation’ is assigned to the ‘established union’

 

Conclusion

• Crisis & work

– Worsening conditions in public sector and private sector

– Employees in precarious jobs further weakened by crisis

• Immigration– Significant increase in negative attitudes between 2006 and 2010

– the decline in positive attitudes to immigrants highest in Greece and Ireland

• Dispute resolution– Crisis accelerated trends in referrals to state bodies

– Underlying cause: separation of collective and individual disputes in law; weak role afforded to unions in dispute resolution