Introduction
I am delighted to have been invited by the Labour Relations Commission to address this Symposium. I have a great deal of time for Maurice, Kieran and their colleagues and I welcome the opportunity to pay tribute to them for all their hard work and their very many successes in the challenging world - not for the faint hearted! - of industrial relations.
The Symposium theme is "New Perspectives on Workplace Change". You have a full and interesting agenda, a very good line up of speakers and an excellent chairperson. I look forward to hearing about the results of your deliberations in due course. The LRC is very much about thinking as well as doing and yours is a voice that we listen to very carefully when it comes to the world of work; industrial relations; and the design of processes and legislation, particularly since your voice is based on experience - not all of it good!
Workplace change is, of course, critical to our continuing viability as an economy and society. Last year, in recognition of this, the Government launched an integrated National Workplace Strategy to support and drive workplace change and innovation.
The Strategy is being overseen by another of your speakers, the Minister for Labour Affairs, Tony Killeen. It sets out clearly the different steps and actions that are required to support workplace change and innovation. The focus is on adaptability; high performance; employee involvement; workplace learning; and skills development.
Key to implementation will be the proactive engagement of employers, employees and their representatives. Next year, through the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, we will be running a major public awareness campaign aimed at maximising this engagement. There are obviously real challenges to be faced on all sides. However, if we succeed in overcoming them, we stand to become one of the first countries in the world to fully embrace the knowledge economy and society. And that, in itself, should be a strong motivator for us all.
Our social partnership system has long since proven its worth as an instrument of necessary change. The National Workplace Strategy recognises that the level and pace of innovation needed in Irish workplaces will in turn require the development of more effective partnership - style approaches.
In fact, a key theme of the Strategy is that high participation, high involvement work practices are key to generating mutual benefits for employers and employees - whether in terms of increased innovation, higher productivity or an enhanced quality of working life.
So let us have a bit more partnership and a bit more dialogue around the workplace. As I have said before, I really cannot understand why some people have such a difficulty about talking things through, about sharing views and ideas. Ultimately, in any organisation, people are all in the same boat and have to pull together. The achievement of mutual gains for both employers and employees depends critically on the development of a culture of employee involvement and participation that fosters experimentation, innovation and learning.
And, on the other side, let us have a bit more openness to change. Let us welcome change, not fight it at every turn. And let us keep a strong focus on business and service objectives. Whatever business we are in - whether it's in the private or public sector - we have to keep the big picture in mind. If we do not change and keep changing the business that we do and the way we do business, there are plenty of people out there who are more than willing to take our business and our customers away from us. The rise of enterprise in India and China, in particular, presents in the starkest terms a reality that will not go away - a reality of relentless competitive pressure. But business everywhere is confronting the same reality from closer to home – both from the Company down the road and from Member States in the enlarged European Union. Competition is here to stay.
Delivering organisational change - whether in the public or private sectors - is not easy. It involves changing not just established work practices and existing terms and conditions but also the mindsets, behaviours and attitudes of managers, employees and trade union representatives. As Kieran and his colleagues are well aware, a considerable amount of the work of the LRC's conciliation and advisory services is taken up by disputes and problems related to organisational, operational and business change.
Clearly, then, there is a need for greater attention to be paid to enhancing organisational capacity for resolving and indeed preventing workplace disputes. I very much welcome the LRC's focus on this in its Strategy. Social partnership also has a role to play in this area. I know, for example, of a number of private sector organisations where the strengthening of partnership arrangements has led to the adoption of innovative approaches to the handling of grievances and disputes. Similarly, as ‘Towards 2016’ acknowledges, the partnership approach has significantly improved the industrial relations environment in the health sector. And, of course, recent social partnership agreements have contained a number of important institutional and procedural innovations, such as the establishment of the National Implementation Body and the putting in place of procedures for dealing with "inability to pay" cases.
Innovations which help to ensure that products are manufactured and services are provided without interruption, are greatly to be welcomed.
I look forward to hearing about any new ideas for improving organisations’ “in-house” capacity for conflict prevention and resolution that may emerge from this Symposium. But, in any event, we should not lose sight of the fact that we are very fortunate in Ireland in already having in place a very high quality system of dispute resolution, centred on the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court. I understand, for example, that the Conciliation Division consistently resolves 80% of all cases referred to it; while the Rights Commissioner Service resolves the vast majority of cases referred to it.
By the way, I mentioned the National Implementation Body (NIB) earlier. I should just say that the NIB was established to ensure the delivery of the stability and peace provisions of recent social partnership agreements; and that while it does very useful work, it main role is to encourage people to use the existing, statutorily-based industrial relations machinery of the State in the shape of the LRC and the Labour Court. I simply mention this because I would be concerned if too great a volume of cases were being referred to the Body.
The number of days lost to industrial action fell from 260,000 in 1987 to just under 27,000 last year. That is due to social partnership and to the work of IBEC and ICTU in social partnership but it is also in no small part due to your vital role in the social partnership system. So, once again, thanks to all concerned for their commitment and professionalism.
Before closing, I would like to say a few words about change in the public service. The Public Service Change and Modernisation Programme that has been underway for over ten years is definitely making a difference. But there is no doubt that there is a great deal more to be done in terms of flexibility, modernisation and productivity.
This Government has invested unprecedented levels of funding in public services - into health, education and local services. We are making huge capital investments in school buildings and in healthcare facilities - often in the form of expensive specialist equipment. For the sake of our citizens, we need to ensure that the return on their investment is maximised. This includes ensuring that the facilities are used to their fullest potential. It means ensuring that the full range of services needed by people is available when they are needed - including at weekends and outside traditional "office hours".
Information and Communications Technology can help deliver some of this flexibility. Anyone who has paid their car tax over the internet will know how convenient a more flexible service can be: and if I ever have the privilege of addressing this forum again, I would like to be in a position to cite a much wider range of examples like this. But leaving aside technology, for services that must be personally delivered - whether in frontline areas such as health or in areas where there are once off backlogs - we need to adopt more flexible approaches and to deliver new models in the spirit of partnership. So again, more partnership, more local level-engagement, more change and more innovation please.
I think we also need to see a new approach to leadership development in the Public Service. I believe in the school of thought that says "managers deal with complexity, but leaders deliver change". We need workplace leaders to deliver workplace change. This means giving potential leaders richer development opportunities earlier in their careers - including stints in the private sector where appropriate. It means a mixture of specialist training and creative job placements to ensure that, by the time leaders reach the top, they are fully rounded individuals who can rise to the particular challenge that the Public Service presents. I have asked the Secretaries General of Government Departments to bring forward proposals for consideration by the Government on this important aspect of workplace change management.
I would like to take the opportunity of this Symposium to call on the public service and their representatives to re-commit to the change and modernisation programme as set out in Towards 2016, so that, together, we can deliver to our customers - the public - a first -class service in line with the needs and expectations of today.
I know from your Annual Report about the increased volume of work that is coming in to the Labour Relations Commission. I know about the long hours and the flexibility that you in the Commission show. Keep up the good work. It is really appreciated.
It just remains for me to wish you well in your deliberations and, in passing, to express the hope that in developing the Commission’s research and operational strategy for the period ahead, you will continue to be guided by practical considerations and the real needs of the Government and social partners and our system of social partnership.
Thank you for your attention.
ENDS.