FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 2004 SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : CENTRAL BANK - AND - SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION DIVISION : Chairman: Mr McGee Employer Member: Mr Doherty Worker Member: Mr Nash |
1. Allocation of Additional Work / Responsibilities
BACKGROUND:
2. The case before the Court concerns a dispute between the Central Bank and SIPTU in relation to work being carried out by counting staff at the Counting section of the Central Bank Currency Centre, Sandyford. The Union is claiming that the counting staff should not be carrying out vault work as it does not form part of their duties and there are supervisory staff trained and available to do the job. The Union is seeking that the appropriate supervisory staff carry out the work in dispute and that only in exceptional circumstances would the counting staff be called upon to carry out these duties.
Managements position is that it can delegate work as it deems appropriate in order to meet its operational needs.
The dispute could not be resolved at local local and was the subject of a Conciliation Conference under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached the matter was referred to the Labour Court on 31st January 2006 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court Hearing took place on 13th April 2006, the earliest date suitable tothe parties.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1. It is unacceptable that Management at the facility delegate this work to others when there are supervisory staff who are trained for and available to do the work in question
MANAGEMENT'S ARGUMENTS:
4. 1. Management reserve the right to delegate work within the organisation to ensure the most effective running of its business. As a result of managements decision, there has been an improvement in the overall running of the section.
RECOMMENDATION:
The Court is of the view that the counting staff should be commended, both for their co-operation and for their ingenuity in designing a new procedure for addressing the problem of discrepencies.
The Court recommends that the supervisors should, in the first instance and whenever possible be assigned to the vault work in contention. Only in cases of unavailability should the counting staff be called upon. The Counting staff, for their part should continue to co-operate, where requested as outlined above and should avail themselves of periodic opportunities to work in the high-security area.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Raymond McGee
11th May 2006______________________
AHDeputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Andrew Heavey, Court Secretary.