FULL RECOMMENDATION
PARTIES : BAUSCH & LOMB DIVISION :
SUBJECT: 1.Pay Increase and Terms & Conditions of Employment 2. The Union requests the Labour Court recommend pay increases to the value of 1st January 2020 = 2%; 1st January 2021 = 4.5%; 1st January 2022 = 4.5%; 1st January 2023 = 4.5%, the return of a 39-hour week, the current 5-day sick pay scheme to increase to 10 days and an agreed Bonus payment of a gross weeks pay to be paid twice a year. 3. The Union respectfully requests the Court to recommend in the Unions favour.
4. 1. The Employer states all previous commitments made by the company have been upheld. 2. The Employer states a reversion to previous cost structures will cause the company to consider future investment decisions and options with an anti-Waterford bias. 3.The Employer states the package of pay and conditions, taken in the round is competitive within the sector locally, nationally and regionally.
This claim followed on from the expiry of an agreement brokered under the auspices of the WRC in 2016 whereby the pay element of the agreement expired on the 1stDecember 2019. Prior to that agreement in 2014 there had been a major restructuring which included pay cuts, pay freeze and increased working hours. This claim was originally scheduled to be heard by the WRC on 22ndApril 2020. However, due to Covid 19 the conciliation had to be postponed. The Unions preference was for a face-to-face conciliation hearing which took place on the 21stDecember 2020. No progress was made, and the conciliation conference was adjourned. In the intervening period the Employer unilaterally implemented a 2.5% pay increase payable from the 1stJanuary 2020. A further conciliation took place on the 6thJanuary 2021. However, the Employer would only engage in respect of basic bay and not in respect of other issues. The parties agreed to a joint referral to the Labour Court. SIPTU’s claim was as follows. 2% pay increase 1/1/2020 (on top of what had already been paid) 4.5% pay increase 1/1/2021 4.5% pay increase 1/1/2022 4.5% pay increase 1/1/2023. They were also seeking a move back to a 39-hour week or three additional annual leave days per year. Sick pay to be increased from 5 to 10 weeks. Changes to the Bonus system, elimination of starter pay, Canteen subsidy to be restored, VHI to be paid for SIPTU members and a share purchase agreement to be implemented as referenced in the 2016 WRC agreement. However, SIPTU indicated that they were prepared to prioritise the issues that they wanted addressed as follows, Basic pay increase, 39-hour week, sick pay scheme and Bonus. SIPTU confirmed that they had not costed their claim but were prepared to accept the Employers figure of 11.5% of annual labour costs. The Employer accepted that there is a pay increase due from 1/1/21 but does not accept 4.5% is the appropriate rate. They had offered 2% for 2021,2022 and 2023. It was their submission that 2.5% had already been paid and that was in line with general pay increases for that year and should not be re-visited. I n terms of the other issues identified by SIPTU the Employer submitted that the 40-hour week was a bedrock of the 2014 restructuring and that the Worker’s had received three additional days annual leave per year to compensate for that change. Any proposed change to the 40-hour week would have profound impact on production, attendance patters and annual leave entitlements for the worker and was not something that operationally could be implemented at this time without significant impact on operation costs. The Employer submitted that no basis had been put forward for the increased sick leave and they were not in a position to concede that claim at this point in time. They submitted that they accepted that the current bonus scheme was not delivering in the manner they had envisaged and needed to be looked at. The Court having considered the submissions of the parties both oral and written does not recommend any change to the current working week of 40 hours or the sick pay arrangements as they currently stand. In respect of basic pay the Court noted that a 2.5% increase was applied for 2020 and does not recommend any further increase for that year. The Court recommends the following increases. 1stJanuary 2021 2.5% 1stJanuary 2022 2.75% 1STJanuary 2023 3% In respect of the bonus scheme the Court recommends that the parties engage with the view to achieving a scheme that delivers for both parties. The Court so recommends.
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