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EWCs' UK exodus sparks legislation call

The Government has been told that amendments to current legislation are needed to handle potential disputes that may arise in European Works Councils (EWCs) which relocate in Ireland as a result of Brexit.

Industrial Relations News (IRN) says a report, prepared by the former chairman of the Labour Court Kevin Duffy for Brussels-based consultancy BEERG, has advised the Government that normal access to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court is the only “rational” way to handle such disputes.

100 EWCs may have moved

IRN understands that as many as 100 of the estimated 200 EWCs based in the UK could already have re-located here.

These include councils for HP, Oracle, GE, Verizon and Emerson.

Meanwhile, Google now has a Special Negotiating Body (SNB), constituted under Irish law.

Because of Brexit, non-EU firms will no longer be able to locate their EWCs within Britain, because they are governed by the EU Directive that gave effect to them.

IRN says a number of experts have now told the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar that current Irish legislative arrangements governing disputes involving EWCs based here are simply inadequate when it comes to resolving disputes.