Labour Court Database __________________________________________________________________________________ File Number: CD90678 Case Number: LCR13168 Section / Act: S67 Parties: IRISH NURSES ORGANISATION - and - AMALGAMATED TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS UNION |
Claim for an increase in the salary of Regional Organisers.
Recommendation:
5. The Court having considered the submissions in this case is of
the opinion that the existing relationships with nursing grades
should be retained and accordingly does not recommend concession
of the Union's claim in that regard. The Court, however,
considers that the present scale is too long, having regard to
salaries obtaining in this area of employment and, in view of the
employers recognition of this, recommends the following reduction
in the present scale to nine points.
The scale to be as follows
15,558-15,816-15,988-16,455-16,737-17,010, 17,290-17,573-18,179
with effect from 1/7/1990. The claimants to be assimilated as
follows:
Claimant A to 15,816
" B to 17,010
" C to 17,290
" D to 18,179
" E to 18,179
Division: Ms Owens Mr Keogh Mr Devine
Text of Document__________________________________________________________________
CD90678 RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR13168
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1976
SECTION 67
PARTIES: IRISH NURSES ORGANISATION
and
AMALGAMATED TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS UNION
SUBJECT:
1. Claim for an increase in the salary of Regional Organisers.
BACKGROUND:
2. The workers concerned are Union officials with a nursing
qualification, who organise, represent and negotiate on behalf of
members of the Irish Nurses Organisation (I.N.O.) which has
approximately 12,000 members. There present salary scale ranges
from #14,527 by fourteen increments to #18,179. This scale was
agreed following a Labour Court hearing in 1987 (L.C.R. 11516
refers) and is a compilation of the Public Health Nurse and
Superintendent Public Health Nurse scales. In January, 1990 the
Union submitted a claim for an increase in salary on behalf of the
workers concerned on the grounds that their duties and
responsibilities were comparable to industrial relations
practitioners in other unions who were on higher salary scales.
Management rejected the claim. the issue could not be resolved in
local level discussions and was referred to the conciliation
service of the Labour Court at the beginning of October, 1990. A
conciliation conference was held on the 19th October, 1990 but no
agreement was reached. The dispute was referred to the Labour
Court on the 9th November, 1990. A Court hearing was held on the
10th January, 1991.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. The workers concerned do not perform nursing duties, they
provide a service which is usually provided by trade union
officials, and their dedication and skills at the negotiating
table brings I.N.O. policy to fruition.
2. They must be capable of conducting negotiations and
holding their own against senior industrial executives
employed by management and the Federation of Irish Employers.
They must be capable of repesenting their members at
conciliation and arbitration boards, advising solicitors and
counsel and attending the High Court when called upon to do
so. They must be capable of advising their members on all
matters concerning their employment, and on all aspects of
Social Welfare, P.A.Y.E. and the various relevant Acts of the
Oreachtas. They must also be capable of deputising for the
General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary when
necessary, and work long hours in the execution of their
duties.
3. The Union has described the function of the full-time
trade union official, which is what the workers concerned are.
They are performing as trade union officials, and should,
therefore, be paid as such for the work they do. The Union
has supplied details to the Court of the salaries of trade
union officials in its own case, and also in S.I.P.T.U. and
L.G.P.S.U. which are substantially higher than the salaries of
the workers concerned who are also on a very long incremental
scale.
4. The I.N.O. is to be commended for the excellent service
they provide for nurses. They protect their salaries and work
diligently to improve nurses conditions of employment. The
reason the I.N.O. exists is to ensure that their members are
adequately paid for their nursing function. This Union is
only asking the I.N.O. to do the same for the workers
concerned and pay them the rate for the job.
ORGANISATION'S ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. In a previous claim for a salary increase for the grades
concerned which was investigated by the Court in 1987 (L.C.R.
11516 refers) the Union stated "they are in fact full-time
Union officials and provide a service for the members of the
I.N.O. in the same way officials in any other union do. This
work is no different to that performed by officials of the
F.W.U.I., the I.T.G.W.U., L.G.P.S.U., or our own Union for
that matter." The Union then went on to state "the above
information is necessary so the Court can appreciate the
quality of the industrial relations expertise employed by the
persons concerned in this claim."
2. The Organisation is satisfied that there has been no
perceptible change in the duties and responsibilities of the
workers concerned since 1987, other than a levelling off of
the higher level of activity which was a major factor in the
Court's award at that time.
3. The Organisation has limited resources, depending
principally on membership subscriptions which are annually
determined for its income. During the past three years no
increase in subscriptions was levied because members were
themselves constrained in the salary adjustments they received
by virtue of the public pay agreements.
4. The workers (all of whom are nurses in the first
instance), are appropriately aligned with nursing grades in
terms of salary and it is inappropriate that their Union
should make selective comparisons with other unions in order
to benefit their claim.
5. Concession of the claim (any claim) at this time would
affect differentials within the Organisation and lead to
possible consequential claims by related grades.
6. The workers stand to benefit substantially from increases
already awarded to nursing grades (details supplied to the
Court) which ensures that the Organisation has, de facto,
already conceded substantial increases to them over and above
those payable under the Programme for National Recovery.
7. It is the Organisation's view, that the workers are
adequately remunerated for their duties and responsibilities.
RECOMMENDATION:
5. The Court having considered the submissions in this case is of
the opinion that the existing relationships with nursing grades
should be retained and accordingly does not recommend concession
of the Union's claim in that regard. The Court, however,
considers that the present scale is too long, having regard to
salaries obtaining in this area of employment and, in view of the
employers recognition of this, recommends the following reduction
in the present scale to nine points.
The scale to be as follows
15,558-15,816-15,988-16,455-16,737-17,010, 17,290-17,573-18,179
with effect from 1/7/1990. The claimants to be assimilated as
follows:
Claimant A to 15,816
" B to 17,010
" C to 17,290
" D to 18,179
" E to 18,179
~
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Evelyn Owens
_____________________________
25th January, 1991. Deputy Chairman
T.O'D./J.C.