LCR22416

1.Consolidation of 7.5% Allowance.

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 8 April, 2021 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. A Labour Court hearing took place in a virtual setting on 27 May, 2021.


RECOMMENDATION:

The Court has given very careful consideration to the written and oral submissions of the parties.

The Trade Unions seeks the consolidation into the rate of pay of 58 MINI-CTC personnel of a 7.5% allowance which was agreed approximately 17 years ago. The employer rejects the claim and contends that the allowance was never intended to be other than a non-consolidated allowance.

The parties are disagreed as to the potential consequences of a concession by the employer of the Trade Union claim across a range of allowances which are paid annually by the employer to staff occupying a range of grades. The annual cost of the allowance paid to the 58 CTC personnel is €195,000 whereas the employer contends that the total cost of a range of similarly ‘non-consolidated’ allowances currently in place in the company exceeds €6.5m per annum.

The Court notes that the allowance was originally introduced by agreement as a ‘temporary’ measure but has continued in payment for 17 years approximately.

The employer submitted that a wide-ranging engagement with the Trade Unions on matters affecting the entire company is expected within six months. The employer submitted that any engagement as regards the terms and conditions of employment of the workers involved in this claim, including the question of consolidation of this allowance, should be engaged upon as part of those discussions. The Trade Union took the view that the process of engagement outlined by the Company could be expected to extend over a period of years.

In circumstances where the parties dispute the potential for consequential claims from other groups arising from any concession of the within claim, the Court does not consider it appropriate to make a definitive recommendation at this time. The Court therefore, on the basis that a wider engagement is expected to take place in 2021, recommends that the parties address this matter as part of that engagement when it occurs.

Should the wider engagement not take place in 2021, the parties may return to the Court to secure a definitive Recommendation in the matter.

In the meantime, the parties should examine the ‘cost neutral’ proposition put forward by the Trade Unions that the allowance be abolished and that a pay adjustment should take place which would be calculated at a level so as to ensure that the total cost to the employer of making that adjustment should not exceed the amount of €195,000 per annum which is the current annual cost of payment of the allowance of 7.5%. Having determined the detail of that framework ‘cost-neutral’ proposition for resolution of the within dispute, the parties should engage further, through agreed procedures as necessary, to attempt to find agreement on the matters in dispute in that manner as an alternative to further engagement on the matter in the wider context later this year.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Kevin Foley
CC	______________________
8 June 2021	Chairman