FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1990 SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : INSTITUTES OF TECHNOLOGY (REPRESENTED BY IRISH BUSINESS AND EMPLOYERS' CONFEDERATION) - AND - IRISH NURSES ORGANISATION DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Flood Employer Member: Mr McHenry Worker Member: Mr. Somers |
1. Pay and conditions.
BACKGROUND:
2. The dispute relates to a claim by the Union on behalf of College Nurses in seven Institutes of Technology - Athlone, Carlow, Cork, Dundalk, Sligo, Tallaght and Tralee. In May, 1998, the Union served a claim in respect of these institutes to the employers' representative. Details are as follows:-
1. Salary: The salary of the grade of College Nurse would be aligned to that of Lecturer 1.
2. Working Year: The working year of the College Nurse would be aligned to that of other College Staff.
3. Superannuation: The post of College Nurse would be viewed as permanent and pensionable and therefore included in the relevant superannuation scheme offered by the Institutes of Technology. The College Nurse would enjoy parallel conditions of employment as currently enjoyed by College Lecturers covering such issues as continuing education, application of sick leave/pay scheme and other matters such as compassionate leave, access to job sharing and career breaks.
Management rejected the claims. In 1998, at a conciliation conference held under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission the parties agreed to have an evaluator examine the issues of pay and conditions of employment. His report was published in January, 1999 (details to the Court). It found that the most important issue for College Nurses was their temporary status, any alteration to which would be a major cost factor for the Colleges and would also create a precedent for other grades of staff categorised for payment in a similar manner. Subsequent discussions on this report were not successful despite the Union's amendment of its claim on salary to parity with the grade of Clinical Nurse Manager 3. The dispute was referred to the Labour Relations Commission. A conciliation conference was held on the 29th of November, 1999. No agreement was reached. The dispute was referred to the Labour Court by the Labour Relations Commission on the 28th of February, 2000. A Court hearing was held on the 20th April, 2000.
SALARY
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. The introduction of a standard uniform national scale for the grade of College Nurse equal to that applicable to the CNM3 Grade is both reasonable and justified taking into account the role and function of the College Nurse (details supplied to the Court).
2. The health and welfare service supplied by the College Nurse is growing every year as College of Technology student numbers have increased. In addition, the Colleges are increasingly offering adult, industry linked and out of hours services, all of which increase the workload and responsibilities of the College Nurse.
3. Against this background it is only reasonable that the post holder would enjoy parity of esteem with an appropriate grade within the health sector. Taking all relevant factors into account, the Union believes that its claim for alignment with the CNM3 nursing grade is appropriate. The current situation which sees numerous different pay scales in operation, from one college to another, while the postholder essentially carries out the same work is illogical, unreasonable and contrary to good employment practice.
INSTITUTES' ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. The Institutes are prepared to link the pay of College Nurses to an appropriate nursing grade and the pay, bearing in mind duties and responsibilities, should be linked to the pay for the general nursing grades within the Department of Health and Children. In the case of nurses who have a single qualification, the Institutes are prepared to agree a linkage to the staff nurse scale and in the case of nurses who have dual qualifications to the Dual Qualified Nurse Scale.
2. Labour Court Recommendation No. 15290 (August, 1996) provided for an annual salary of £12,500 for a 35 hour week from the 1st of September to the first Friday in June of the following year, a period of circa 40 weeks per annum. In 1996, this was the equivalent on an annual basis of £18,017 which was within the staff nurse scale at that time of £14,030 to £18,799 with long service increment (LSI )to £19,116 (39 hours per week). The recent settlement in respect of nurses have provided increases over the intervening period of between 12% to 20%. The current scale for staff nurses is £15,762 to £22,302 with LSI to £23,014. The dual qualified nurse scale is £17,828 to £23,799. This is a fair and reasonable offer and should be accepted.
WORKING YEAR
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
5. 1. The Union seeks the application of the already established standard terms and conditions of employment which apply to permanent grades employed within the College of Technology sector. In essence this would cover annual leave, taking into account local practices covering public holidays, church holidays and traditional VEC arrangements currently enjoyed by all other grades employed in each Institute. This must also cover the introduction of the standard sick pay scheme, compassionate leave, career break and other terms and conditions open to other permanent staff.
2. Due to the very rapidly changing environment within which health services are provided by the College Nurse, it is also necessary to ensure that the postholder has access to adequate paid time off and funding for continuous education. The two-day study leave per annum recommended by the Commission on Nursing cannot be treated as a maximum but that reasonable and flexible arrangements must be applied to ensure the maintenance of an acceptable skills and knowledge base by the individual College Nurse.
3. In the past, each College Nurse has been extremely flexible with regard to working hours so as to ensure they are compatible with efficient delivery of service. This approval will be continued. In return the Union's claims need to be addressed.
INSTITUTES' ARGUMENTS:
6. 1. While the College Nurses are at present employed without a fixed weekly attendance requirement, the Institutes are prepared to agree to a minimum weekly requirement of 27 hours each week as outlined in the evaluator's report (Paragraph 4) for the academic year of September to end of May/first Friday of June of the following year. In addition individual Institutes may, at local level following consultation, agree periods of coverage that would be in excess of twenty seven hours.
SUPERANNUATION
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
7. 1. The Union is seeking the inclusion of the grade of College Nurse in permanent and pensionable posts attached to the Institute of Technology sector.
2. This will require the Institute of Technology, the Department of Education and the Minister for Education and Science agreeing to the College Nurse being included but nothing less will be acceptable and nothing less is fair and reasonable in the context of the College Nurse now being a permanent and essential element of services provided by the Institutes of Technology.
3. In the past, the reason given for the exclusion of the College Nurse was that the financial support for this service came from the Student Capitation Grant and was not part of the integral funding of the College of Technology. This is no longer sustainable or tenable, based upon the ever increasing demands being placed on the service, the reality that some colleges now employ more than one College Nurse due to the level of demand and the simple fact that the health and welfare services provided by the nurse are an essential and integral part of the colleges functioning.
4. Against this background there is no possibility of the service being phased out and, therefore, it is not acceptable that College Nurses would be maintained on renewal contracts, fixed contracts or other arrangements. In that context, the Court is asked to note that Tallaght Institute of Technology officially recognises the post of College Nurse as being permanent wholetime but will not include it in the superannuation scheme open to all other permanent members of staff. This is yet another example of the rather confused and contradictory nature of the current employment relationships.
5. The current arrangements, as summarised by the evaluator in his report, are many but the Court is particularly asked to note the arrangement in Sligo. This sees the individual nurse employed by a third party who is contracted to provide certain services. This arrangement allows the college itself to remain at arms length from this problem. The Union views this practice as being wholly unfair and purely designed for the college to avoid from being responsible for all reasonable obligations of a de facto employer.
6. It should be noted that during the period when the Union has been seeking progress on this claim, the employers have seen fit to grant wholetime employment status to other grades including the College Chaplain who has much less ongoing, continuous and complex interaction with the student population than the College Nurse. However, the Chaplain grade now enjoys the security of tenure that College Nurses have been striving for, without success, for so long.
INSTITUTES' ARGUMENTS:
8. 1. The Institutes are not in a position at present to accede to the Union's claim for permanent and pensionable employment. The positions are funded from the Student Capitation Fund (details to the Court). The positions are not within the approved allocation of posts sanctioned which provides funds for a range of other student services in addition to the provision of a nursing service by the Department of Education and Science. Only positions which are allocated by the Department and filled following a prescribed selection process and other requirements can be regarded as pensionable by any one Institute.
RECOMMENDATION:
There are a number of issues in dispute in this case including salary/grading and status of employment.
Currently the salary scale and hours of work vary from institute to institute. There is a very strong resentment that despite long service, these nurses still have to sign on at the Employment Exchange during holiday periods.
The Court is conscious that an extensive investigation was undertaken and a report produced by Mr. Des Casey on this claim for a pay increase, standardisation of conditions and permanency of employment.
Taking this into account and the fact that he has detailed knowledge of the case, the Court recommends that Mr. Casey be asked to nominate an appropriate linkage grade for these posts. This to be done within 4 weeks of date of recommendation.
The Court while conscious of the unsatisfactory nature of employment and the length of time some people have been employed under the present arrangement, must accept the Employer’s position, that attendance in all colleges by nurses is not a requirement for a full year. Given this position the Court could not recommend that employment be extended to the summer months when work does not exist.
However, the Court noted the Employer statement that the situation in relation to the College teaching period is changing and under review in some cases. It would appear that with the increase in summer activities there is likely to be an increase in hours worked with more people working full time, and consequently, being made permanent.
The Court would recommend that further discussion take place between the parties to explore this possibility.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Finbarr Flood
18th May, 2000______________________
TO'D/CCChairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Tom O'Dea, Court Secretary.