FULL RECOMMENDATION
PARTIES : HSE DIVISION :
SUBJECT: 1.Effective Pay Date The matter before the Court concerns only the parties’ dispute as regards the date for application to 20 Area Directors of Nursing (Area DONs) of previously agreed pay scales and gradings and for payment to them of previously agreed retrospection to 1stAugust 2018. The parties have, in addition to previously agreeing the pay scale for Area DONs and agreeing that the new scale should apply with effect from 1stAugust 2018, have agreed the assimilation arrangements to apply. The Court is aware of the parties’ collective agreement titled Building Momentum. The employer asserts to the Court that the matter before the Court must be resolved by application of elements of the Building Momentum collective agreement. The Trade Union asserts that the Building Momentum collective agreement has no bearing on the dispute before the Court. In essence, the employer submits that only an element of the agreed pay scales and retrospection can be applied to the Area DONs during the lifetime of Building Momentum with the remainder of the agreed payments to be made after the expiry of that agreement in December 2022; while the Trade Unions submit that the agreed payments should be made now. The submissions of the parties make clear that on two occasions the employer has conceded in writing that the arrangements set out in Building Momentum, the parties’ collective agreement, do not apply to the implementation of the agreed arrangements for Area DONs. On both of those occasions industrial action had occurred or was about to occur. On both of those occasions it appears that the clarity as regards non-application of Building Momentum to the matter in dispute which was provided to the Trade Unions was subsequently rescinded by the employer. The parties have advised the Court that they will both accept the Recommendation of the Court in relation to this dispute. They have similarly advised the Court that they wish this long running dispute to be concluded by the issuance of a Recommendation by the Court which would establish a date upon which the agreed pay scales will apply and upon which the agreed retrospection would be paid. The Court is aware that the parties have established a framework for dispute resolution as part of their collective agreement, Building Momentum, and also that the parties have agreed that matters will be referred to the Court only after the exhaustion of that dispute resolution framework. The Court notes that the parties have chosen not to avail of the Building Momentum dispute resolution framework in order to secure a resolution to this dispute. The Court is unable to reconcile the employer submission that the resolution of this trade dispute can be found by application of the Building Momentum collective agreement with the fact that the parties have chosen not to deal with this dispute through the Building Momentum dispute resolution framework. In all of the circumstances the Court, noting that the work practice changes giving rise to a regrading / new scale for Area DONs have been in place since 2012 and that a number of previous deadlines for resolution of this dispute have lapsed without settlement as well as the fact that on two occasions the Trade Unions have understood from the employer that Building Momentum has no application to the matter, recommends that the full implementation of all agreed arrangements including pay rates and retrospection should be applied to the 20 Area DONs on 1stOctober 2021. The Court so recommends.
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