Ireland: Employers signal return to company-level bargaining

In late December 2009, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) announced that it had pulled out of the national pay agreement and advised member companies to prepare for local wage bargaining, for the first time in more than 20 years.

Since 1987, the Irish Government, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) and employers' organisations have signed successive national social partnership agreements, regulating a range of employment, social and economic matters.