48 hours of Policy in Northern Ireland by Marc Strathie, Senior Policy Advisor for the Devolved Nations - Institute of Directors
I was delighted to come over to Northern Ireland a few weeks ago to spend a couple of days meeting IoD Northern Ireland members and representing our members views on the upcoming “Good Jobs” bill alongside colleagues across the business representative sector in Northern Ireland.
On the Tuesday, IoD was hosted at FSB offices alongside CBI, Manufacturing NI and Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce to discuss in detail the proposed reforms to Northern Ireland employment law. As a collective, we all recognised that most businesses in Northern Ireland are committed to good governance, employer and employee engagement and fair pay/terms and conditions.
Whilst we are aware some elements of the consultation are to bring Northern Ireland in closer alignment to the United Kingdom, there are some proposed areas of divergence which present concerns to us and our members. Northern Ireland is predominantly an SME economy and some of the proposed changes ranging from a ban on Zero Hour Contracts through to Trade Union recognition for businesses of 10 upwards could impact competitiveness and productivity.
Over my few days in Northern Ireland, I spoke with a number of our members who utilise Zero Hour contracts and the key reasons cited for the usage was around flexibility and being led from the employee. Although they are utilised mainly in hospitality and retail, they are also an important component of keeping those semi-retired workers in Northern Ireland, economically active, who may not want to commit to a specific working time regulation every single week.
The role of Trade Unions in Northern Ireland is another key area of the consultation up for debate. At present, Northern Ireland businesses with employees of upwards of 21, have a right to have trade union representation and proposed legislation could bring this number down to 10/11 employees.
On the Wednesday, IoD were delighted to host a roundtable at Arthur Cox’s offices in Belfast alongside colleagues from DfE. Our members had the opportunity to hear about the consultation in more detail and express feedback, comments and concerns directly to officials. Ahead of the consultation deadline of 30th September, IoD continued to engage with relevant stakeholders and our members. If you would like to discuss any aspect of the consultation or any other NI policy issues, please reach out to me on [email protected]
