Enterprise
What is enterprise?
Enterprise is when an individual or group of people take a risk and decide to start something new.
Is a lightning strike a type of official or unofficial strike?
Unofficial.
What is a trade union?
An organisation that represents employees in their workplace. It is set up to protect the rights of employees and to negotiate to management on their behalf.
What is a legislative method?
This is where industrial conflicts are solved by using Irish law.
What is industrial relations?
Industrial relations refers to the relationship between employers and employees.
Give an example of an entrepreneur.
E.g. Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Aimee Connolly, Brian Lee, Aine Kennedy.
How many days notice do employees need to give their employers before going on strike?
7
State two functions of a shop steward.
Recruit new members for the union.
Represent members in negotiations with management.
Keep members up to date with information from head office.
Inform union head office of members concerns.
What does WRC stand for?
Workplace relations commission.
Explain two reasons why employees might go on strike.
Pay and Working Conditions, Discrimination, Redundancy, Promotion, Demarcation.
Give three benefits of becoming an entrepreneur?
Being your own boss, varied work day, unemployment and more money.
What Airline went on strike during the summer - cancelling hundreds of flights?
Aer Lingus.
List 3 non-legislative methods of resolving industrial relations conflict.
Meet and talk, negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, mediation.
Give an example of a reason for fair dismissal and a reason for unfair dismissal.
Reasons for fair dismissal: incapable of doing the job, incompetent, not qualified, misconduct, redundancies.
Reasons for unfair dismissal: member of a union, pregnancy, religion, race, suing employer, traveller, sexuality.
Explain the benefits of good industrial relations.
Increased Morale/motivation and Productivity, Less Absenteeism, Lower Staff Turnover, Customer Loyalty, Encourages Investment.
Describe one skill an entrepreneur would have.
Decision making, being proactive, Networking, Risk management, Human Relations, Realism.
Differentiate between an official and unofficial strike.
An official strike is legal in Ireland. First employees must hold a secret vote. If 51% of people want to go on strike they give their employer 7 days ‘notice. The trade union instructs employees to cease working. They will pay workers strike pay.
An unofficial strike is one where employees don’t hold a secret vote and/or don’t give their employer 7 days’ notice. The trade union doesn’t recognise unofficial strikes and will not pay workers strike pay.
Describe the process of negotiation.
This is where an employer/ manager and representatives of the employee (trade union) sit down with one another. They will discuss the reason for the dispute and attempt to come to a solution. Any deal that is agreed is known as a “collective agreement”. This collective agreement holds no legal power.
State 4 legislative methods of solving industrial relations conflict.
Industrial Relations Act 1990, The Workplace Relations Commission, The Labour Court, Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015, Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 & 2007.
Workers temporarily stop work for a short period of time. This is an attempt to get the employer to listen to the workers and solve industrial disputes.
Outline two characteristics a successful entrepreneur should possess.
Decision-making, Risk-taking, Determination, Self-motivation, Self-confidence, Creativity.
How does industrial action impact the employer?
Employer →Industrial action disrupts business activity and may result in missed deadlines, e.g. failure to fulfil a customer’s order. This can damage the firm’s reputation.
Distinguish between conciliation and arbitration.
Conciliation is where a third party known as a conciliator attempts to bring the employee and employer to a mutual solution. The conciliator is independent of the employee and employer and acts as a facilitator when offering advice and guidance in search for a possible solution.
Arbitration is where a third party known as an arbitrator investigates an industrial dispute. The arbitrator will make a judgement on the matter and tell them what to do to resolve the dispute.
Outline 3 functions of the labour court.
Investigate disputes-The Labour Court investigates disputes between employers and employees. It gives a non-legally binding recommendation to both parties. If neither side is happy with their recommendation they can appeal to the High Court.
Hear Appeals-If either party rejects the recommendation of the WRC, the case will be sent to the Labour Court. The Labour Court issues a binding judgement to the case.
Register Employment Regulation Orders-The Labour Court draws up an ERO to fix pay and working conditions for people in certain industries that become legally binding, e.g. window cleaners.
Interpret Codes of Practice-The Labour Court interprets the Labour Relations Commissioner’s codes of practice. It will also investigate any breach of these codes of practice.
Joint Labour Committees-Establishes Joint Labour Committees which produce employment regulation orders enforceable by law. They regulate industries where workers have no union, to discuss issues such as pay etc..
Comparability claim is where employees ask for a pay increase when they see workers from different business doing similar jobs but earning more. An example would be if workers in LIDL get a pay increase, then the workers in ALDI might seek the same.
Relativity claim - Sometimes people’s jobs are linked with each other. If one person receives a pay increase then the other person may also seek one. An example of this would be if waiters receive a 5% increase in wage, then the bar staff may also look for a 5% increase to maintain the pay gap