Labour Court Database __________________________________________________________________________________ File Number: CD90214 Case Number: LCR12939 Section / Act: S67 Parties: SOUTH EASTERN HEALTH BOARD - and - LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES UNION |
Claim by the Union on behalf of a seamstress/instructor for an increase in salary.
Recommendation:
5. Having considered the submissions made and taking all the
factors into account, it is the Court's view that the worker
concerned should be paid in accordance with the scales paid in the
Midland and North Western Health Board areas.
Division: CHAIRMAN Mr Collins Ms Ni Mhurchu
Text of Document__________________________________________________________________
CD90214 RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR12939
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1976
SECTION 67
PARTIES: SOUTH EASTERN HEALTH BOARD
AND
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC SERVICES UNION
SUBJECT:
1. Claim by the Union on behalf of a seamstress/instructor for an
increase in salary.
BACKGROUND:
2. The worker concerned was employed in 1988 as a
seamstress/instructor in the remedial workshop at St. Canice's
Hospital, Kilkenny. The workshop is a European Social Fund
(E.S.F.) grant aided unit, meeting the same requirements for that
aid as the workshops in the Midland and North Western Health
Boards. She is currently paid a rate of pay equivalent to the
craftsman rate, which ranges from #10,388 to #11,269 per annum.
The instructor concerned is paid less than that paid to
instructors in the workshops in the above mentioned Boards. In
July, 1987, the Union lodged a claim for a 25% increase in wages
to bring her into line with instructors in the other Boards. The
parties agreed to defer the claim for a period while an equal pay
claim was being pursued. Since the claim was originally lodged
the Labour Court has recommended that instructors in the Midland
and North Western Health Boards be paid the same rate of pay as a
FAS instructor (L.C.R.11592). The Union are now seeking parity
with FAS instructors whose rates range from #13,418 to #17,054 per
annum. The Board rejected the Union's claim and on 23rd January,
1990, the matter was referred to the conciliation service of the
Labour Court. No agreement could be reached at a conciliation
conference held on 19th April, 1990, and the matter was referred
to the Labour Court on 25th April, 1990, for investigation and
recommendation. The Court investigated the dispute on 19th June,
1990, in Kilkenny.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. The instructor is employed in a unit which was set up and
is funded specifically for the training of handicapped people
with a view to placing them in an industrial situation. The
unit is funded by the E.S.F. on exactly the same basis as the
Midland and North Western Health Boards' units are funded.
2. The Sewing Programme is a comprehensive one, geared
towards an industrial setting which includes the use of micro
computers and industrial sewing machines. Trainees are
expected to produce saleable items of commercial quality.
Provision is made for the control, functional development and
assessment of trainees. The job description, objectives and
assessment in the North Western Health Board compare very
favourably with the South Eastern Health Board. If there are
differences in the actual composition of courses offered, or
in the localised method of application, these differences do
not negate the instructor's right to the rate for the job.
3. The Union believes that the instructor is entitled to be
remunerated on the same basis as instructors in the Midland
and North Western Health Boards. As the claim was lodged in
1987, it should be dealt with under Clause 3.3 of the Revised
Agreement on Pay in the Public Service.
BOARD'S ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. The Board contends that its workshop activities do not
compare with those of the Midland and North Western Health
Boards or other workshops run by various voluntary
organisations. A distinction has to be drawn between the
workshop activity of the unit in St. Canice's Hospital and the
units in the other Boards, in that while candidates are
assessed by the National Rehabilitation Board for placement
purposes so as to satisfy E.S.F. funding requirements, neither
of the other Boards recruit their candidates from the
psychiatric services as St. Canice's does.
2. People using the unit in St. Canice's are all former
patients or existing patients whose 'trainability' is open to
question. A large number of these are not fit for discharge
as they are long stay patients. Even where discharges are
made, they are more suitable for sheltered workshop type
activities. By and large the skills learned are not
marketable and are unlikely to lead to gainful employment.
3. FAS instructors implement training and instruction
designed to raise the trainees' level of skills to a high
standard to enable them to compete for positions in the
market. The instructors in St. Canice's have a more
supervisory role and apart from the imparting of basic skills
to disabled people they do not have the same responsibilities
as their FAS counterparts both in terms of trainee turnover
and environment in which they operate. The trainees at
St. Canice's are in receipt of activation type activities
rather than training to provide a basis for meaningful
employment outside.
4. 4. Concession of the claim could seriously jeopardise the
continued viability of the unit. It will also have major
repercussive effects for different grades within the service
and will most certainly spill over into similar operations
being run by the voluntary organisation which will have an
impact on the Board in terms of grant aid to these
organisations.
RECOMMENDATION:
5. Having considered the submissions made and taking all the
factors into account, it is the Court's view that the worker
concerned should be paid in accordance with the scales paid in the
Midland and North Western Health Board areas.
~
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court,
Kevin Heffernan
___10th___July,____1990. ___________________
B. O'N. / M. F. Chairman