LCR22035

FULL RECOMMENDATION

CD/18/344

RECOMMENDATIONNO.LCR22035

CCc-163448-18

SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990

PARTIES :

GALWAY COUNTY COUNCIL

- AND -

SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION

DIVISION :

Chairman: Ms O'Donnell
Employer Member: Mr Marie
Worker Member: Mr McCarthy

SUBJECT:
1. Taking of Annual Leave and Annual Leave Arrears.

BACKGROUND:

2. 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 6 November 2018 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place 6 March 2019.

RECOMMENDATION:

The issues in dispute between the parties concerns the taking of Annual Leave and arrears of Annual Leave for the Galway based retained firefighters. LCR 20683 noted that the parties concluded an agreement in 2011 that provided for a system of self-managed leave cover within the retained fire services. It went on to state that the parties should engage over a three- month period to develop a new leave cover agreement and in the event, agreement should not be reached the issues should be referred back to the Court. The issue was before the Court on the 6^thMarch 2019 and the Court recommended as follows;

“To this end the Court recommends that the parties actively engage over the next six weeks to come up with a workable solution for the 2019/2020 annual leave year. While the Court does have some concerns about an agreement that places the responsibility for finding a replacement on the person who is taking the annual leave the Court notes that the Union do not seem to favour a system whereby the Employer allocates leave. It is the view of the Court that the parties working jointly are best placed to come up with a workable system that is acceptable to the Worker’s and the Employer. Should the parties come up with an agreed system the Court should be notified, and it will then consider and issue a recommendation on the arrears issue.
Should the parties fail to reach an agreed outcome within six weeks the outstanding issues should be referred back to the Court for a definitive recommendation.”

The Parties were unable to reach agreement and referred the issue back to the Court both parties set out their position in relation to what they had tabled at their local discussions. The Court notes in relation to management’s proposal that there were issues tabled that were not before the Court during the hearing and therefore cannot be addressed by this Court in this Recommendation. It appears to the Court that both parties agree that two teams of 7 are the optimum arrangement to ensure that staff can take their annual leave. The Court recommends that the parties return to conciliation under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission and engage on the first eight bullet points of management’s proposal down to and including the bullet point that states;

“thecurrent practise of alerting the off-duty crew automatically during the day to cease, subject to there being a combined crew of 14 or an operational requirement determined by the Full-Time Station Officer”.

All the other issues on that proposal should be negotiate in the normal manner.

In terms of the return to conciliation the parties should bear in mind that management are obliged to ensure that all staff take their leave entitlement in the year it accrues save for any carry over arrangement. In relation to the accumulation of annual leave this should also form part of the discussions with a view to clearing the accumulations of untaken annual leave within a defined period of time and to ensure that going forward the taking of annual leave is managed in a way that such accumulations do not reoccur.

The Court so recommends.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court

Louise O'Donnell
FMc______________________
1st July 2019Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Fiona McCarthy, Court Secretary.