FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1990 SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : VALERO ENERGY IRELAND LTD. (REPRESENTED BY MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SERVICES (IRELAND) LTD.) - AND - SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Hayes Employer Member: Ms Cryan Worker Member: Mr Shanahan |
1. Redundancy Terms.
BACKGROUND:
2. On the 19th December, 2012 the Company announced a restructuring of the business. Twenty enforced redundancies are required from the office staff of the Company. The Company offered three week's pay per year of service plus statutory entitlement with a cap of two years. This was rejected by the Union and negotiations on Redundancy Terms commenced.
The parties could not reach agreement at local level and referred the matter to the Labour Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached at the Labour Relations Commission the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on the 30th April, 2013, in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place on the 16th July, 2013.
UNION'S ARGUMENTS:
3. 1.Previous redundancies in the Company were voluntary. This current round of redundancies is compulsory. As the staff affected have no choice in the matter the redundancy terms on offer should be significantly better than those that applied to staff that had the option to continue at work or volunteer to take redundancy.
2. The Redundancy package agreed in 2008 with Chevron is acceptable to the Workers currently being made redundant.
3.The current offer is unacceptable to our members as in some cases they will receive between 45% and 60% less than they would have received under the terms that applied in previous agreements
4. With unemployment running at 14% future employment prospects are significantly limited.
COMPANY'S ARGUMENTS:
4.1. Funding for these redundancies will have to be found by Valero Energy Ireland Ltd. The parent Company is not prepared to make a contribution towards the costs of the proposed terms.
2. Valero Energy Ireland Ltd is currently incurring a trading loss.
3. The Company, nevertheless, had put forward an improved package that is fair and reasonable in the current climate but this was rejected by the Union.
RECOMMENDATION:
The Court has carefully considered the extensive submissions of both parties to this dispute.
Noting that the Company improved the offer in the course of the meetings between the parties at the Labour Relations Commission, the Court recommends that the settlement proposals be amended to exclude statutory entitlements for the purpose of calculating the 2 year cap on the lump sum payable to each redundant employee.
On this basis the Court recommends that the Union should accept the revised offer in full and final settlement of all matters in dispute.
The Court so recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Brendan Hayes
29th August, 2013______________________
JFDeputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to John Foley, Court Secretary.