SIPTU has today (Monday, 1st March) signed a recognition agreement with the Irish Management Institute (IMI). The collective agreement affords SIPTU exclusive representational rights on behalf of staff in IMI. The staff in IMI joined SIPTU last year and following a long campaign, the Institute has acknowledged their right to be represented by a trade union. SIPTU Public Administration and Community Division Organiser, Adrian Kane, said that the agreement with IMI will ultimately prove beneficial to both parties.“Recent Eurofound research has linked enhanced employee participation in firms, such as collective bargaining arrangements, with higher productivity and efficiency outcomes,” Adrian Kane said. “IMI’s decision to recognise SIPTU follows recent calls by the employer’s organisation, IBEC, for social dialogue. It would appear that important business and management institutions are beginning to recoil from the anti-union policies of recent years. It is regrettable that the Government is so out of step with this more progressive spirit. “The recent attempt by the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, to render useless the EU Commission’s proposed directive on minimum pay and collective bargaining rights by reducing its status to that of a recommendation has revealed the Government’s true colours when it comes to workers’ rights.”
SIPTU signs recognition agreement with Irish Management Institute
