Labour Court Database __________________________________________________________________________________ File Number: CD89379 Case Number: LCR12491 Section / Act: S67 Parties: PRETTY POLLY (KILLARNEY) LTD - and - IRISH TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS UNION |
Increased wages for four electricians.
Recommendation:
5. The Court considers that the established relationship between
the Electricians and the Knitting Department is still appropriate.
Accordingly, the Court does not recommend an increase in payments
to Electricians as a result of changes in other Departments or
from developing technology.
Division: CHAIRMAN Mr Collins Mr Devine
Text of Document__________________________________________________________________
CD89379 RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR12491
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1976
SECTION 67
PARTIES: PRETTY POLLY (KILLARNEY) LTD
and
IRISH TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS UNION
SUBJECT:
1. Increased wages for four electricians.
BACKGROUND:
2. The company has been in operation for twenty two years and
employs over four hundred workers. It is engaged in the
manufacture of ladies hosiery which is sold predominantly in the
United Kingdom. Four electricians are employed in the company.
Some years ago the company's Knitting Department changed from a
four shift to a three shift system of work. In line with this,
electricians changed to a three shift system, plus one week of
ordinary days in each four week cycle. The change from four shift
to three shift work at the Knitting Department was part of a major
reorganisation involving higher work loads and reduced manning
levels within each shift. In recognition of this a Package Deal
Agreement provided for:-
(A) compensation for loss of four shift earnings.
(B) a special payment of #10 per week.
(C) the introduction of a machine efficiency bonus scheme
(currently yielding an average #44.32 per week).
The electricians were advised that as there were no plans for
electrical redundancies, they would change to the new shift system
without loss of earnings but would not benefit from the Package
Deal Agreement. The electricians claimed that this agreement
should be applied to them, on the grounds of the erosion of their
wage differential with knitting personnel and on the basis that
apart from canteen personnel, they were the only four shift
personnel not covered by it. The Labour Court in Recommendation
No. 6038, recommended in favour of the electricians. The company,
under an agreement reached with the electrical personnel on
improved working arrangements, implemented the recommendation.
This restored the pre knitting Package Deal Agreement wage
differentials between electrical and knitting personnel. In
January, 1989, the union lodged a claim for a substantial increase
in wages for the four shift plant electricians. The increase was
claimed because of new technology and the erosion of their rates
of pay compared to rates of other workers. The company rejected
the claim and a Labour Court conciliation conference was held on
12th May, 1989. No agreement was reached and the Union requested
a Labour Court hearing. The company agreed and the Court
investigated the dispute in Tralee on 12th July, 1989.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. The electricians had their rate of pay negotiated in
1980, following a large scale installation of new machinery in
the knitting section. Since that rate of pay was negotiated,
new machines have been installed and technology has changed at
an alarming rate. Some of these machines include -
Positioning Device, Della-Bella Machine, Dye Machines, TAS 20
Machine, Solis Machines, New Knitting Machines and a knitting
room air conditioning system. The largest present undertaking
is the installation of the Link System, which comprises the
joining together of four machines to form one unit. The
electricians have fully co-operated with the installation and
continued with the electronic maintenance of these machines.
2. At present, the company is running an in-house
electronics course in an effort to help the electricians cope
with the increase in new technology. While the electricians
are quite prepared to participate in the training, they do so
without prior negotiations as to the type of work that will be
expected of them thereafter.
3. In recent weeks the company and union discussed the fact
that technology was not progressing entirely to plans. A task
force was set up with an electrician assigned full-time,
together with two mechanics. This electrician is now working
with two mechanics who already have received a weekly increase
of #17.50 (in December 1988) for their co-operation with the
introduction and maintenance of the new machines.
4. By virtue of their terms of employment, the shift plant
electricians are not tied to any particular section of the
plant but maintain all production machinery and all ancillary
machinery, including boilers etc. Therefore, the normal
grounds for a wage increase cannot apply i.e. that
redundancies must take place in a section, resulting in
savings for the company. In fact, the company should
recognise that in all its technological changes it did not
have to employ extra electricians.
5. The electricians have made a major contribution to the
successful installation of all machines in the company during
the last nine years.
COMPANY'S ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. The Knitting Package Deal Agreement was the first major
reorganisation in which personnel received increased
remuneration in recognition of the higher work loads etc.
Subsequently, major reorganisations were undertaken in other
departments. None of the agreements in the other departments
were as lucrative as the Knitting Agreement, due to the extent
to which the machine efficiency bonus has increased over the
years. The relativity between electrical and knitting
personnel has been maintained by their inclusion in the
Knitting Agreement.
2. The electricians are fully involved in all equipment
installation throughout the plant. The plant-wide nature of
the electrical positions is expressly referred to in the
electricians' letters of appointment:
"The duties will comprise of efficiently installing and
maintaining all electrical equipment, belonging to and
in use by the company".
In recent years it has been inevitable that new equipment
would contain more electronic parts. For this reason the
company organised an in-company electronics training programme
and has met all the costs involved in the electricians
attending this programme. Electronics training now forms a
routine part of the training received by electrical
apprentices.
3. The company and union accepted the terms of the
Programme for National Recovery. It was agreed that a limited
number of outstanding claims, such as the recent claim by
maintenance craft personnel, would be exempted from the no
cost increasing claims clause and could be processed during
the period of the Programme for National Recovery. This claim
is not an exempted claim.
RECOMMENDATION:
5. The Court considers that the established relationship between
the Electricians and the Knitting Department is still appropriate.
Accordingly, the Court does not recommend an increase in payments
to Electricians as a result of changes in other Departments or
from developing technology.
~
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Kevin Heffernan
__31st__July,__1989. ___________________
A. McG/U.S. Chairman