FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1990 SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : DIAGEO PLC - AND - JOINT UNION GROUP UNITE-ACTS GROUP TECHNICAL, ENGINEERING AND ELECTRICAL UNION DIVISION : Chairman: Ms Jenkinson Employer Member: Mr Murphy Worker Member: Ms Tanham |
1. �ssues arising from the closure of Dundalk Brewery
BACKGROUND:
2. This case concerns a dispute between the Company and Unions in relation to redundancy terms. The Company is closing its Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk and its Kilkenny Brewery also. The Unions in this dispute represent their members employed at the Dundalk Brewery and are seeking enhanced redundancy terms to those accepted by the workers in the Kilkenny Brewery. The Unions position is that an agreement on redundancies concluded between the parties in 2009 should be made available to the workers on this occasion also. Management contend that the terms on offer, which have been accepted by workers employed at the Kilkenny Brewery, represent the best option available to the workers in Dundalk. It cannot offer the terms that applied as part of the 2009 agreement given the changes to its financial circumstances since that time.
The dispute was not resolved at local level 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 27th June 2012 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. Labour Court hearings took place on 24th January and 26th April, 2013.
UNIONS ARGUMENTS:
3 1 The terms on offer are totally unacceptable to the workers. The proposals accepted by the workers in the Kilkenny Brewery should not apply to the workers in Dundalk as the age and service profiles of the workers are completely different.
2 A previous agreement concluded in 2009 provided for early retirement options and the retention of health benefit payments. Previous agreements related to voluntary redundancies whereas in this case the redundancies are compulsory and the terms should be enhanced accordingly.
COMPANY'S ARGUMENTS:
4 1 The current offer of eight weeks pay per year of service plus statutory is the best possible offer available. In addition the statutory redundancy entitlement is exclusive of the cap which will enhance the package even further. The Company cannot sustain the costs of the additional terms sought by the Unions.
2 The early retirement option and the retention of medical insurance payments were a specific feature of the previous agreement and the Company can no longer offer those terms to its staff. The pension scheme is currently in deficit and as such, early retirement payments cannot form part of the current proposals unless the Company pays in the entire value of the funding that would be required, which it is unable to do.
RECOMMENDATION:
The matter before the Court concerns a dispute between the parties over the severance terms arising from the planned closure of the Great Northern Brewery in Dundalk in September 2013. This arises on foot of a decision to consolidate brewing operations in Dublin resulting in the closure of both the brewery in Dundalk and the brewery in Kilkenny, the latter will also close in 2013. On behalf of their members in Dundalk the Unions submitted a comprehensive list of claims before the Court.
The Court notes that extensive negotiations had initially taken place collectively with all Unions involved from both sites, first at local level then through the Labour Relations Conciliation (LRC), however, as no agreement was reached the Unions, on behalf of the Dundalk workers, referred their claim to the Labour Court and the Unions, on behalf of the Kilkenny workers reverted to the LRC process. Following further intensive negotiations at the LRC involving the Kilkenny Unions and the Company, the LRC submitted a set of proposals to both sides outlining a package of severance/redundancy terms. Those terms were agreed and accepted by the workers in Kilkenny.
The Unions, on behalf of the workers in the Dundalk Brewery, stated that the profile of workers in Dundalk was different to that in Kilkenny.
Having considered the submissions of both sides the Court is of the view that the terms offered to the workers in Kilkenny were very substantial and reasonable in the circumstances and consequently recommends that those terms should be recommended for acceptance by the workers in the Dundalk Brewery.
The Court so recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Caroline Jenkinson
14th May 2013______________________
AHDeputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Andrew Heavey, Court Secretary.