LCR21411

• This dispute could not be resolved at local level and was the subject of a Conciliation Conference under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission. As agreement was not reached, the dispute was referred to the Labour Court on the 20 January 2017 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.

The Court notes the detail supplied by the parties as regards the extent and period of engagement between them on matters related to Pilot pay and related matters.

The Court has been supplied with a document which the Company described as a collation of recent proposals to the Trade Union side. It is not clear to the Court that the Trade Union was familiar with this document before the hearing and it is not clear to the Court that the Trade Union is aware of the value of potential benefits contained within the proposals of the company.

The Company for its part confirmed to the Court that it had been unaware of the detail of the Trade Union side claim prior to the hearing of the Court and consequently was unable to estimate the cost of that claim in its entirety.

The Company set out its financial position to the Court in general terms. In essence the Company identified itself as being in a challenging but improving financial situation and as such as being constrained in its ability to absorb cost increases. The Trade Union for its part asserted to the Court that it did not accept that the Company was challenged in relation to the cost of dealing with its claim and stated that it had not been facilitated with an opportunity to have the Company’s assertions as regards its financial position independently verified.

In all of these circumstances, the Court finds it extremely difficult to address the extensive detail and scope of the Trade Union’s claim and the Company’s offer document.

The Company indicated at the hearing that it would be agreeable to an examination by an independent financial assessor operating under an appropriate non-disclosure agreement.

The Court therefore recommends that the parties agree an independent assessor who will operate under a non-disclosure agreement designed to protect the commercial confidentiality of Company information. That assessor should be tasked to (a) verify to the Trade Union the financial position of the Company as outlined in its submission to the Court, (b) cost the Trade Union side claim, and (c) set out the value and cost of the offer of the Company such that the members of the Trade Union will be facilitated to understand fully the value to them of that offer and its cost to the Company. The cost of the independent assessor should be borne by the Company.

The assessor process should be completed within four weeks of the date of this recommendation. At that point the parties should engage, with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission if necessary, for a period of no more than six weeks, to find agreement on the matters before the Court. Any outstanding matters at the conclusion of that engagement may be referred jointly by the parties back to the Court for a definitive recommendation.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court



Kevin Foley
CR______________________
14th March, 2017Chairman



NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Ciaran Roche, Court Secretary.