An independent review of the background to last summer's one-week electrical contractors' strike has recommended a major overhaul of the way pay and conditions are set in the sector.
Under the current system, pay and conditions are negotiated under the legally-binding Registered Employment Agreement system by employer and union representatives.
Traditionally, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union represents around 10,000 employees, while electrical contractors are represented by the Electrical Contractors Association and the Association of Electrical Contractors in Ireland.
However, last year two new groups of electrical contractors - National Electrical Contractors Ireland and National Electrical Contractors Trade Association - had challenged the status of the REA system because they were not permitted to take part in the deliberations.
They said that in the current downturn, it was unfair that they should be legally-bound by a purported 5% pay increase when they had not been permitted to take part in the negotiations.
Today's review by former Labour Court chairman Finbar Flood and the chairman of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance Peter Cassells recommends that the system should be totally reformed through the introduction of new rules.
It says representation should be granted to any 'permanent body of standing' that is representative of employer interest in the sector.
However, the degree of representation would be allocated based on the number of employees represented by employers belonging to the body in question.
It recommends an end to 'one size fits all' wage increases, to allow for the scale and type of work a firm is engaged in.
Where individual employers are unable to pay, they should be able to apply to the Labour Court for a temporary exemption.
Employers who are not in compliance with their pension obligations to their staff should be given a once-off opportunity to comply. Thereafter, the terms of any future agreement would be vigorously enforced.
Enforcement of the new Registered Employment Agreement would be undertaken by the National Employment Rights Agency in a fair and impartial manner.
The Flood-Cassells report also recommends development of a rigorous system of enforcement against firms from other jurisdictions, including Northern Ireland, that undertake short-term assignments in the Republic.
