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Collective bargaining and flexibility in Ireland

by Joseph Wallace & Noreen Clifford

VI. The outcomes of collective bargaining on flexibility

A. Introduction

The outcomes of collective bargaining on flexibility are many and varied. Therefore it is necessary to classify into a few categories the cases examined here. These cases do not purport to be representative of all the negotiations which are conducted on flexibility. Rather they have been chosen to represent two dominant issues which arose from the interviews conducted with representatives of unions and employers for this study. These issues are:

-- Atypical working in the retail sector, dealing with issues arising out of both numerical and temporal flexibility. These cases are concerned with the regulation of atypical work and the interaction between collective bargaining and the State institutions for adjudication on industrial relations, especially the role of the Labour Court.

-- Functional flexibility in manufacturing industry and developments related to efforts to construct a partnership at the local level which would parallel the partnership system which has grown up at the national level since 1987.

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Updated by BC. Approved by MR. Last update: 10 August 2000.