FULL RECOMMENDATION
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS, 1946 TO 1990 SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : HSE NORTH WEST - AND - SIPTU & INMO DIVISION : Chairman: Mr Haugh Employer Member: Mr Murphy Worker Member: Ms Tanham |
1. Public holiday provisions.
BACKGROUND:
2. This dispute concerns proposed changes to the Workers' terms and conditions of employment. This dispute could not be 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 dispute was referred to the Labour Court on the 10th September, 2015, in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place on the 6th October, 2015.
UNIONS' ARGUMENTS:
3 1 The public holiday arrangements have been part of the Workers' terms and conditions of employments for many years.
2 The Employer is seeking to introduce unilateral changes to these arrangements.
3 The existing public holiday arrangements should remain in place for the Workers on a red-circled basis.
EMPLOYER'S ARGUMENTS:
4 1 The Workers had no contractual entitlement to preferential public holiday entitlements.
2 As there is no HSE funding for this anomalous practice it is, in effect, funded out of charitable donations.
3. The Employer believes that this is the type of reform envisaged by the provisions of the Public Service Agreement 2010-2014.
RECOMMENDATION:
The issue before the Court relates to an established preferential compensation arrangement in respect of public holidays that applies to 23 of the 59 staff employed at the North West Hospice in Sligo. The 23 staff in question are comprised of a combination of nursing and non-nursing support staff; a small number of staff are employed directly by the HSE and the majority by the North West Hospice. The service is operated on a partnership basis between HSE North West and North West Hospice, a registered charity.
Management has proposed to change the aforementioned preferential terms to bring them into line with the HSE norm. The Unions’ position is that the current arrangements that apply to their 23 members have been in place since as far back as 2001 and, on the basis of certain written assurances given by Management in the past, should be regarded as red-circled to the members in question. Management’s view is that the assurances referred to by the Union were given in a very particular historical context i.e. at a time when it was envisaged that the HSE would take over the operation of the Hospice and the provisions of the EC (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 would have applied to ensure that North West Hospice employees transferring to the employment of the HSE would enjoy no less favourable terms and conditions of employment than they had prior to any such transfer.
The Unions and the Employers reached a comprehensive agreement at Conciliation in relation to a compensation formula comprising 2 elements: (i) detailed what was to be paid in the future by way of compensation of 1 day’s additional annual leave in lieu of a public holiday; and (ii) provided for a once-off compensation payment of 1.5 times the loss, in accordance with the established PSA norm. The proposal was put to a ballot of the members but was rejected.
The Court, having considered the detailed written and verbal submissions of the Parties, recommends that the terms of the agreement reached at Conciliation be applied with one modification i.e. the start date for implementation be delayed by a period of 12 months from the beginning of the 2015/2016 annual leave year and therefore encompassing the nine public holidays in that annual leave year.
The Court so recommends.
Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
Alan Haugh
20th October, 2015______________________
JMcCDeputy Chairman
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Jonathan McCabe, Court Secretary.