If a major industrial dispute cannot be resolved by the Workplace Relations Commission, it can be investigated by the Labour Court. The Labour Court is not a court of law. It listens to both sides in an industrial dispute and issues a recommendation or decision.
An employer has 42 days to act on the Labour Court’s decision. If they do not, the District Court will issue an order directing the employer to do so.
Who am I? A
Go to page 86 of your Activities and Accounts Book to identify the different types of workers you have learned about in this chapter using the clues provided.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
• Work is anything that requires effort to achieve a result. • Employment is paid work. • An employee is a person who works for someone else in return for payment. • An employer is a person who pays people who work for them. • Self-employment means working for yourself.
• Volunteerism is the practice of volunteering time and energy without payment, in order to benefit society.
• In Ireland, people work within three main sectors: agriculture, industry and services. • The labour force is all the people in the country who are available for work. • Unemployment is when people who are available for work cannot find a suitable job.
• People who are employed by the state are called public sector workers. People who are not employed by the state are called private sector workers.
• The position of every employee in a workplace is shown in an organisational structure. • Industrial relations is the relationship between employers and employees in a workplace. • A strike is when employees stop working as a form of protest against their employer. • A trade union is an organisation of workers set up to protect its members’ rights and interests.
• A shop steward is the worker who has been elected by trade union members to represent them in the workplace.
• Industrial disputes can be resolved with help from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court.
Taking stock A 164
Go to page 86 of your Activities and Accounts Book to check what you have learned in chapter 12.
