Labour Court Database __________________________________________________________________________________ File Number: CD89351 Case Number: LCR12413 Section / Act: S67 Parties: UNIDARE TRANSFORMERS LIMITED - and - IRISH TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS UNION;NO. 14 BRANCH |
Dispute which originally concerned the bonus scheme.
Recommendation:
3. Not only have there been no forced redundancies in the
individual Unidare companies but this is the first time they have
occurred in the history of Unidare. As a result there is no
appropriate precedent on which to draw.
ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENT:
Unidare Transformers Ltd have stated that there will be no
residual work arising on which any of its redundant staff could be
employed and the individual companies have indicated that far from
having vacancies in the immediate future they will be faced with
lay-offs for varying short periods. Therefore there seems no
possibility that any redundancies can be avoided by immediate
re-deployment to other jobs.
In the circumstances, and despite the right of selection which the
individual companies have agreed with the Union, the Court
considers it appropriate to recommend to each of the individual
companies that such jobs as become available within a two year
period of the date of this recommendation be reserved for a member
of the Unidare Transformers workforce made redundant by the
present closure provided he has applied for the job and is a
suitable candidate. The Court will recommend selection by
suitability rather than seniority and will propose the setting up
of a system of notification of vacancies that arise.
REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS:
Having regard to all the circumstances of this closure, the Court
recommends that the redundant workers be paid 3.50 weeks pay per
year of service in addition to statutory entitlements.
Division: CHAIRMAN Mr Shiel Mr O'Murchu
Text of Document__________________________________________________________________
CD89351 RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR12413
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1976
SECTION 18
PARTIES: UNIDARE TRANSFORMERS LIMITED
(Represented by the Federated Union of Employers)
and
IRISH TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS UNION
(NO. 14 BRANCH)
SUBJECT:
1. Dispute which originally concerned the bonus scheme.
BACKGROUND:
2. The Court initially met the parties to seek a resolution of a
bonus-related dispute which resulted in the recent strike in
Unidare Transformers Ltd. The Court's examination of the dispute
was quickly overtaken and rendered pointless by the decision to
close the transformer production unit at Finglas on commercial
considerations. The Court then commenced consideration of
emergent issues. With regard to the original dispute the Court
would comment that the perilous position of the Transformer
business was well known to all in the company prior to the strike.
The subsequent stances taken by the parties illustrate the
futility of concentration on industrial relations "rights" to the
exclusion of commercial realities on the one hand and of an over -
emphasis on commercial requirements at the expense of the full use
of Industrial Relations process and machinery on the other. While
the business may not have survived in any event, the Court is of
the view that had the company painstakingly used the disputes
procedure in seeking the changes it required, the strike situation
and its far-reaching effects might well have been avoided.
In its announcement of the closure of the transformer unit Unidare
P.L.C. ascribed the reasons for the decision to several years of
substantial losses, present market factors and an uncompetitive
manufacturing cost base. Because of the inability of the Company
to overcome these difficulties the decision to close was
irrevocable. As a consequence of this development the work-force
of Unidare Transformers Ltd were redundant and the Court addressed
itself to the issues of possible alternative employment and
redundancy payments.
RECOMMENDATION:
3. Not only have there been no forced redundancies in the
individual Unidare companies but this is the first time they have
occurred in the history of Unidare. As a result there is no
appropriate precedent on which to draw.
ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENT:
Unidare Transformers Ltd have stated that there will be no
residual work arising on which any of its redundant staff could be
employed and the individual companies have indicated that far from
having vacancies in the immediate future they will be faced with
lay-offs for varying short periods. Therefore there seems no
possibility that any redundancies can be avoided by immediate
re-deployment to other jobs.
In the circumstances, and despite the right of selection which the
individual companies have agreed with the Union, the Court
considers it appropriate to recommend to each of the individual
companies that such jobs as become available within a two year
period of the date of this recommendation be reserved for a member
of the Unidare Transformers workforce made redundant by the
present closure provided he has applied for the job and is a
suitable candidate. The Court will recommend selection by
suitability rather than seniority and will propose the setting up
of a system of notification of vacancies that arise.
REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS:
Having regard to all the circumstances of this closure, the Court
recommends that the redundant workers be paid 3.50 weeks pay per
year of service in addition to statutory entitlements.
~
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Kevin Heffernan
25th May, 1989 ----------------
A.K./U.S. Chairman