asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries what function an officer of his Department (name supplied) had at a conciliation conference of the Labour Court which he attended on the afternoon of 23rd November, 1970, in a dispute between the Federation of Rural Workers and the Drogheda Board of Conservators; and if this officer was present for the purpose of negotiating.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Function of Officer at Labour Court Conference.
32.
The conciliation conference to which the Deputy refers was considering an application for a wage increase by employees of the Drogheda Board of Conservators and this had to be dealt with in the context of similar applications on behalf of boards throughout the State generally. The officer referred to in the question was present on the invitation of the conciliation service of the Labour Court. He attended in an advisory capacity to the council of conservators who were acting for the employers at this series of meetings. As the Deputy knows the Exchequer bears a considerable part of the costs of boards of conservators.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the vice-chairman of the joint council of the board of conservators was representing the board, and does he consider it fair that an official of the Department who subsequently adjudicates on whether or not the recommendation is to be sanctioned should turn up and act as adviser to one side? Is this a precedent? Are we in future to find representatives of the Department of Local Government going in on local authority wage claims for the purpose of advising what should be done?
This is not the position. The Department's official acts as adviser to both sides and is there to give any information that is required of him in arriving at a satisfactory decision.
Is the Minister aware I was the representative of the trade union side and that the Department's representative sat with and took part in the negotiations from the other side and made the strongest possible argument against my claim? Is he also aware that he asked the representative of the board of conservators to go out for a side conference so that he could advise him because he felt he was going on the wrong track in his defence of the board's refusal to pay the increases sought?
This has been the practice for the past three years.
No, it has not.
It certainly has been over the last three years in the negotiations with the Irish Transport and General Workers Union which represents 16 of the boards concerned, and his services always appear to be welcomed and availed of by both sides. At the meeting held with the representatives of the ITGWU on the 19th November he attended the conciliation end of it at the request of the Labour Court, and this request came from the ITGWU itself.
The Parliamentary Secretary has given me a lot of information for which I did not ask but he has not given me the information for which I did ask, and it is this: Is there now a precedent established whereby Government representatives will attend at Labour Court cases for the purpose of preventing workers from getting increases to which they are entitled? What the ITGWU or anybody else does is a matter for themselves. I am speaking for the trade union workers I represent there and we will not take it, so the Minister can keep his representative at home in future.