Recently I had the rare opportunity to meet with my professional counterparts from around the globe to compare notes and determine international benchmarks relevant to the world of industrial and employment relations.
Of course, this tiny part of the world, comparatively speaking, is a minnow when measured against the scale of operations in Australia, Canada or the USA, but that’s not to say we don’t punch above our weight as I soon discovered.
My colleagues took a degree of cold comfort that in all of the economies represented, similar challenges existed from Covid re-sets, getting a “back to the office” formula that works for everyone, and preparing for an electoral cycle that could throw anything up in the first one hundred days.
But in addition we saw a global trend in mental health issues in the workplace, the frequency of strikes and a desperate need to do more regarding dispute prevention as opposed to dispute resolution.
To that extent my international colleagues were impressed by the work happening locally on social issues that impinged upon the workplace and the relationships therein. They recognised the importance of both the human and the humane aspects of things such as – the impact of domestic violence and the workplace, menopause and the workplace and the need for safe spaces and respectful conversations on topics as diverse as trans rights through to views on global conflicts.
My South African counterpart was particularly taken by the dispute prevention work of the Labour Relations Agency and he commented: “Twenty five years ago Northern Ireland showed the world the forward path. And today, in a very focused way, you have shown us that, when needs must, a creative and mutually acceptable way forward can be found to prevent conflict, albeit in the workplace context. This gives us all the basis for better ways of working and where industrial conflict can be prevented before it takes hold”.
What I took away from that meeting was that there were a group of thought leaders present who have a unique insight into the ‘world’ of work and the disputes that occur. They had the opportunity to learn lessons from a tiny part of the world and they were only too willing to take the practice away, modify it and apply it to their own jurisdictions around the globe.
As I departed from the meeting I asked my American counterpart what the future held and he responded: “hey we are all entering the twilight of another electoral cycle, so this all gets political”.
I said in return “given the industrial disputes in areas such as the car manufacturing industry in the States, perhaps someone will coin a new political slogan like “make America strike again”.
He stopped in his tracks, looked at me and said “oh, you guys are good”.
:: Mark McAllister is director of employment relations services at LRA NI
