Bruton’s proposals go beyond Duffy/Walsh Report

Monday 30 May 2011

Colman Higgins, reporter with Industrial Relations News, provides analysis
of Richard Brutons proposals for reform of the JLC system

Proposals put forward this week on reform of sectoral wage setting mechanisms,
made by the Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, Richard Bruton, are
more radical than those of an independent review group.

Draft proposals on the wage-setting mechanisms were made available to the
social partners last Wednesday, May 25, just a day after the independent review
group’s report was finally published by Minister Bruton’s Department.

While many of the 14 proposals in the Minister’s ‘Outline Reform Agenda’ are
similar to those made by the review group, some were not proposed by the group
at all and several have a different emphasis to that taken by the group. The
review group consisted of Labour Court chairman Kevin