FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1990 SECTION 20(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969 PARTIES : APW CORK / HORMANN ELECTRONICS - AND - AMALGAMATED TRANSPORT AND GENERAL WORKERS' UNION DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Flood Employer Member: Mr McHenry Worker Member: Mr. Somers |
1. Union recognition.
BACKGROUND:
2. APW Cork is part of a large multi-national company, Applied Power Incorporated, which manufactures electronic components. It employs approximately 300 workers at its Cork plant. Applied Power Incorporated also operates factories in Dublin and Galway.
In June, 1999, the Union informed the Company that a substantial number of its employees wished to be represented by the Union and it requested a meeting to discuss rates of pay, conditions of employment and an industrial relations agreement. The Company did not respond. The Company then refused to be a party to a conciliation conference under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission.
In October, 1999, the Union referred the issue of Union recognition to the Labour Court in accordance with Section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969, and agreed to be bound by the Court's recommendation. The Labour Court investigated the dispute on the 11th of April, 2000, in Cork. The Company declined an invitation to attend the Court hearing, but submitted a statement to the Court.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. Irish citizens have a constitutional right "to form organisations and Unions". The Company exercises this right through its membership of the Employers' Union, IBEC, yet denies its employees the same right.
2. Unions are recognised in the Group's Dublin and Galway factories, as they are in many of the Group's plants worldwide. There is an excellent record of industrial relations at the Dublin plant where the Union is facilitated with an office.
3. The findings of the High Level Group on Union Recognition recommend the exhaustion of all the voluntarist mechanisms of industrial relations practices before the issues are finally referred to the Labour Court. This procedure commenced in this case. The Court is requested to rule that the Company should recognise the Union, so as to enable a normal harmonious industrial relations regime to come into being at the A.P.W. plant in Cork.
RECOMMENDATION:
The Employer did not attend the hearing, but submitted a letter outlining the Company's position.
The Court is conscious that provision has been made in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness to give effect to the implementation of the Report of the High Level Group on the question of the right to bargain.
Given this situation, the Court recommends that this claim be progressed as per the procedures outlined in the Report of the High Level Group.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Finbarr Flood
20th April, 2000______________________
D.G./C.C.Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Dympna Greene, Court Secretary.