Worker Representation (Northern Ireland) Bill

A

BILL

TO

Enable employees to gain a minimum level of representation on their company boards BE IT ENACTED by being passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly and assented to by Her Majesty as Follows:*

Section 1: Minimum representation levels

(1) Public bodies specified by the relevant Minister by order through this act must have at least ½ of their boards made up of workers

(2) Private companies must have a certain level of employee representation on their Boards of Directors—

(a) Companies with over 150 employees must have ⅓ of their boards made up of workers

(b) Companies with over 500 employees must have ½ of their boards made up of workers with the chairperson being a shareholder representative holding the casting vote

(c) The Minister may by order change the representation requirements in (a) or (b)

Section 2: Running of elections

(1) Elections shall be run by—

(a) The trade union or group of trade unions that represent workers are the company, or—

(b) Where no trade union is represented at a company elections shall be run by an individual appointed by the company, along with a group of employees —

(I) These employees shall have no voting rights and no right to stand for election

(II) It shall be an offence for the company to attempt to influence or rig the results of the election

(2) Any employee who has —

(a) Worked for the company for over 12 months shall have the right to stand for election

(b) Worked for the company for over 6 months shall have the right to vote in the election

(3) The winning employees shall hold office for a period of 12 months after which a fresh set of elections shall be called to take place no more than 30 days after the term of office finishes

(4) A returning officer shall be appointed by the relevant group running the election

(a) The election shall be run by secret ballot

(b) The returning officer shall throw out any ballot where the candidate voted for cannot be made out or if the voter is identifiable by looking at the ballot

(c) The returning officer shall be responsible for publicly declaring the election result after which the relevant individual shall be responsible for making appointments to the board per the election results

(5) Upon this act coming into effect an election must be held within 30 days

Section 3: Complaints and Appeals

(1) Complaints and appeals regarding the running of elections or election results shall be the responsibility of the Labour Relations Agency

Section 4: Short Title and Commencement

(1) This act may be cited as the Worker Representation (Northern Ireland) Act 2023.

(2) This act will come into effect 30 days after receiving Royal Assent.

This bill was written by The Most Honourable Lady model-avery LT LD DBE CT CVO PC MP MLA, Marchioness of Duckington, deputy First Minister, on behalf of the Northern Irish Executive

Opening Speech

Deputy Speaker,

Worker representation is a firm commitment of this executive and employees deserve representation on the boards that run the companies they work at. This is standard practice across much of Europe and the OECD, so in my opinion it is time Northern Ireland follows suit. There are numerous studies outlining the positive impacts of having this worker representation on boards so I hope my colleagues choose to join my in voting for this bill and bringing our workers rights up to standard. Thank you.

A01

Speaker of the Assembly,

I move to scrap Section 1(2)(c) from the Bill.

A02

Speaker of the Assembly,

I move to introduce an amendment to Section 2(1) to introduce a S. 2(1)(a)(i) as follows:

(1) Elections shall be run by—

(a) The trade union or group of trade unions that represent workers at the company, or—

(i) It shall be an offense for a trade union or group of trade unions to influence or rig the results of the election

This reading shall end on the 9th of April