FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES : DAIRYGOLD MALLOW (REPRESENTED BY IRISH BUSINESS AND EMPLOYERS' CONFEDERATION) - AND - 69 WORKERS (REPRESENTED BY SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION) DIVISION :
SUBJECT: 1.Mallow Restructuring 1. The Company says that it is prepared to release the 6 "Red Circled" individuals on a voluntary redundancy basis provided agreement is reached on an overall restructuring of Mallow for the 2021 season. The remaining “red circled” employee to transfer on the Project Compete terms and conditions of employment that apply to other Dairygold sites with the agreed compensation of loss of earnings package. 2. The Company argues that in relation to manning levels it accepted an interim proposal in February 2020 from the WRC that was to apply for the 2020 season only. The manning levels have not worked from an efficiency and Health and Safety perspective.3. The Company has invested over €144 million in recent years in the development of the Mallow Nutritional Campus in line with farmer members' ambitions and a return on this investment must be achieved. This requires significant improvements in margin and operating costs. RECOMMENDATION: This matter has come to the Court following extensive local engagement and further engagement at the Workplace Relations Commission. The parties have been unable to find agreement in relation to a set of proposals for change brought forward by the Employer and affecting 69 employees. Those proposals contain a range of operational and work practice changes as well as a proposal to eliminate a set of ‘red circled’ arrangements which applied to eight people. Those‘red circling’arrangements include, in the understanding of the Court, arrangements as regards rostering, overtime priority etc. The number of affected‘red circled’employees is now seven as result of the departure from the employment of one employee. The Court has given very careful consideration to the written and oral submissions of the parties. The Court notes that a significant obstacle to progress on the entire matter is related to the arrangements in respect of the seven remaining‘red circled’employees including as regards the balloting arrangements to be employed to decide the acceptability or otherwise of proposals in respect of changes to their ‘red circled’arrangements. The Court notes that the Employer has agreed to make available a voluntary redundancy programme to the seven remaining ‘red circled’employees. The Court also notes that six of those seven people have confirmed their intention to avail of such a programme and to leave the business. In circumstances where the Employer has decided to make voluntary severance available and six persons have indicated an intention to avail of that opportunity to leave the business, it seems to the Court that this matter is decided. The Court’s view is that all six should be facilitated with a departure on voluntary terms as soon as practically possible after conclusion of a collective agreement which itself operationally facilitates the voluntary exits. This aspect of matters does not, in view of the decided position of the parties, require a Recommendation. It is clear that the capacity to facilitate the departure on redundancy of the six employees is related to the implementation of the revised working arrangements on the site. It is difficult in that context to understand how arrangements could be made to facilitate the departure of the six persons on redundancy in advance of the conclusion of a collective agreement in respect of the proposals brought forward by the Employer. Separately, the Court notes that the parties are in dispute as regards the detail of a range of significant proposals brought forward by the Employer and affecting 69 employees. The parties’ dispute in respect of these matters is presented to the Court as complex and operationally driven. The Court has considered carefully the parties’ submissions as regards their dispute in relation to: Manning levels Flexibility and Work Practice Changes Arrangements to comply with the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 Working Patterns Grading Issues.
The Court’s conclusion in this respect is fortified by the submissions of both parties which have emphasised the crucial nature of the matters involved in terms of the sustainability of the operation of the site. Therefore, having regard to the background and circumstances of the dispute the Court Recommends as follows: That the parties should engage, with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission, for a period of six weeks from the date of this Recommendation in order to resolve or refine their dispute in relation to the range of matters outlined to the Court as being in dispute. Any unresolved matters may be referred back to the Court at the end of that period for definitive recommendation at that time. The remaining issue between the parties in relation to ‘red circled’employees concerns arrangements for the ending of the ‘red-circle’arrangement for a single individual. Should a loss of earnings arise as a result of the implementation of those arrangements compensation should be in line with arrangements already in place in the employment. Similarly, should that individual ultimately seek voluntary severance, the terms available to him should be the same as those applying to the six individuals who have already decided to avail of voluntary severance. The parties should engage locally to resolve any outstanding matters in relation to this individual and should the parties fail to find agreement in direct discussion or with the assistance of the Workplace Relations Commission, matters other than matters associated with compensation for loss of earnings or voluntary severance terms, which are dealt with in this Recommendation, may be referred back to the Court for definitive Recommendation. In making the above Recommendation, the Court notes the concern of the Trade Union that the six persons who plan to leave the business on redundancy terms should not engage in decision making on the arrangements to apply to the wider site membership of the Union who will remain in employment following conclusion of the collective agreement. The Court believes that it would be inappropriate to express a view on the internal business of the Trade Union and believes that the matter should be for the Trade Union to manage in accordance with its own decision-making arrangements. In making this Recommendation the Court lays emphasis on the fact that the matter of the parties’ legal obligation to comply with the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 is not negotiable or amenable to compromise. The Court so recommends.
NOTE Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary. |
