III. The positions of the social partners on flexibility
D. The position of employers
The position of employers can be largely represented by the views of the IBEC, although individual employers may have very differing views on specific issues. The main thrust of the views of IBEC were that flexibility is "essential to equip enterprises to compete in this ever diminishing globe" and that "this requires the maximum flexibility in work-practices to organize production and services to respond to rapidly changing very demanding markets where the buyer really calls the shots" (interview with Turlough O'Sullivan, Director, IBEC). Thus employers' view of flexibility is seen as being driven by a business imperative with globalization and market forces being the major forces; the only way in which jobs can be protected and competitiveness maintained is to have full flexibility.
IBEC are, in general, opposed to further legislation regulating flexibility and prefer the use of the voluntarist system. In relation to the introduction of a national minimum wage, which is under consideration by the government, IBEC prefer the continuation of the Joint Labour Committee (JLC) system. This system is established for certain workers or certain sectors of the economy and there are 15 JLCs in operation at present. These are contract cleaning (Dublin); agricultural labourers; law clerks; women's clothing; hotels (outside Dublin and Cork); catering (outside Dublin); retailing; hairdressing (Cork); bottling; brush/broom making; milling; handkerchief/bed linen/towels etc piece goods; shirt-making; tailoring; hairdressing (Dublin). Atypical working is especially prevalent in many of the above sectors. The JLCs are composed of employer and union representatives and an independent chairperson and they set minimum legally binding pay and conditions for all employers covered by employment regulation orders (EROs) . These EROs are made by the JLCs, ratified by the Labour Court, and enforced by the inspectorate of the Department of Labour Affairs. It is estimated that between 8 and 9 per cent of those in employment are covered by such EROs. The unions can apply for the extension or establishment of new Joint Labour Committees and these applications are generally conceded, according to the IBEC spokesperson. Turlough O'Sullivan saw no need for a national minimum wage, citing "many practical difficulties associated with the introduction of a minimum wage".
While the employers' views, as represented by IBEC, may be taken to cover most of the private sector employers, there are a number of exceptions to this. The views of public sector employers also demonstrate a concern with flexibility but with significant differences in the nature of the concerns. While time did not allow interviews to be conducted with a public sector trade union, the views of the Government, as employer, were sought from an Assistant Secretary of the Department of Finance and are reported below. Secondly, the small business sector of Irish industry is covered by two competing employer organizations. Only the Small Firms Association (SFA), which is affiliated to IBEC, was contacted for the study. They offered the view that flexibility was central to the operation of small firms with under 50 employees which they covered. Furthermore, they did not see collective bargaining as having a useful role to play in that sector. They indicated that only some 5 per cent of small firms were unionized and that the introduction of collective bargaining and unionization was inappropriate to most small firms.(4)
In relation to social partnership, the IBEC spokesperson was very favourable to the four national agreements negotiated since 1987. He emphasized, however, that he saw them as being based on work done at enterprise level in the early to mid 1980s by employers who had related to their employees, not just through trade unions, but through increased direct communications with employees outside the collective bargaining system. He said that at "enterprise level we really do have very significant flexibilities, particularly in the new companies which have set up here in the last 20 years, but also in the indigenous companies". However, he added that this was not to say that this was a utopia.