Good jobs or bad law?: The row over workers' rights

A major package of reforms to workers' rights is in jeopardy among a political standoff and a push back from business groups.

The Good Jobs Bill was first announced almost two years ago.

The legal text of the draft law has still not been published.

It is facing an increasingly tight timetable to be approved by MLAs ahead of next year's Stormont election.

The Economy Minister, Sinn Féin's Caomihe Archibald, insists that it isn't too late to pass the law.

"There is plenty of time for this piece of legislation to be scrutinised," she told the BBC recently.

"The Employment Rights Bill that was just recently introduced in Britain, its committee stage took seven weeks."

A coalition of business groups have urged the minister to delay the changes.

Some Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLAs have also heavily criticised aspects of the Bill.

It covers four broad areas of workers' rights: terms of employment, pay and benefits, work-life balance and the role of trades unions.

Among the most eye-catching proposals is a significant change to zero-hour contracts.

These are contracts which allow employers to hire staff with no guarantee of the hours they will work.

They are often seen as emblematic of how employment has become more precarious for some workers.

These contracts would largely be replaced by "banded hours".

That would mean workers who consistently work regular hours over a six month period will have a legal right to request to be moved into a specific band of contracted hours.

In the Republic of Ireland there are eight bands starting at three to six hours and running up to 36 hours and above.

Under the Good Jobs plan, an employer would only be able to refuse a request for a banded hours contract in limited circumstances.

Zero-hours contracts will remain legal where work is genuinely seasonal or casual.

This is the most controversial part of the bill and has generated the greatest opposition from business groups.

Currently unions can only start the process of seeking recognition in a workplace if there are at least 21 employees.

The new law would cut that threshold to 10 employees.

More concerning for some businesses is the proposal to give unions greater rights to meet a workforce.

Currently, unions generally only have a right to enter a workplace if they are already recognised by the employer.

The bill would give unions a "right to request" access to meet with workers for recruitment and representation.

Access would not be automatic, but employers would not be permitted to "unreasonably" withhold it.

Trade unions are adamant that without these measures it will be harder to meaningfully enforce some of the other reforms.

They have also tried to reassure businesses that there would be an agreed code of practice for workplace access, possibly overseen by the Labour Relations Agency.

Gerry Murphy, assistant general secretary at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said the Bill is "not some radical wish list."

"This is about basic workplace fairness," he said.

"Workers having contracts that reflect the hours they actually work, getting reasonable notice of shifts and keeping the tips they earn."

A coalition of business groups has written to the economy minister laying out concerns, warning of a potential hit to job creation and investment.

Those groups met the minister again this week.

Marc Strathie, from the Institute for Directors, said specific issues include how the banded hours arrangements will work in practice.

But he added that there are larger overarching worries about a lack of meaningful consultation, compressed timescales, and the risk of insufficient scrutiny by MLAs.

He said the fact that the formal consultation process had been held during the summer period in 2024 had made it difficult to fully engage with business owners.

The minister has been trying to reassure businesses that the changes would be phased in gradually giving time to prepare.

The intention is that there will be further consultation on banded hours with implementation being targeted for 2029.

With trade union access, implementation would start by applying to businesses with 50 or more workers in 2028. The measures would then extend to firms employing 21 or more in 2029, before encompassing all businesses from 2030.

Introducing these laws would give Sinn Féin a real achievement to talk about ahead of the next election.

For that reason alone it may be tempting to the DUP to block them.

Some DUP MLAs have also been critical of how the changes would impact businesses.

However, the party has not explicitly said it will veto the bill and has been asking the economy minister for more details.

Trade unions have been trying to persuade the DUP that the changes will be popular with its voters and have used opinion polling to help make that case.

A crunch point comes on Thursday when the executive is due to have what could be its final meeting before the assembly's summer recess.

If agreement is reached on Thursday, the bill will go to the assembly and the formal scrutiny process will get underway.

If there is no agreement the timetable will start to look increasingly stretching.