FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990 PARTIES: NATIONAL COLLEGE OF ART & DESIGN (REPRESENTED BY BDO EATON SQUARE) - AND - 6 WORKERS (REPRESENTED BY SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION) DIVISION:
SUBJECT: 1.Introduction of 52 Week Contracts.
Recommendation The dispute before the Court concerns a claim by six Part-Time Technical Officer’s (EPTOs) currently employed on 40-week annual contracts for parity with their full-time colleagues who are employed on 52-week annual contracts. The matter was the subject of LCR15759 in 1998 when the Court recommended that the workers concerned move to a 40-week year. As such the dispute reflects a long-standing aspiration on the part of EPTO’s to be granted whole time status. SIPTU, on behalf of its members, submits that circumstances have changed since agreement on a 40-week contract was reached. The academic year has changed which now starts in mid-September instead of early October. Formerly the EPTO’s had a two-week lead-in preparation time before students returned to college. Now they finish up just as degree shows are installed, which means that they are unable to provide the necessary support to students during assessment or when the degree show is being installed. Furthermore, under the current structure no time is allocated for the Continued Professional Development of EPTO’s. The College rejects the assertion that EPTO’s are required to compress their workload into 40 weeks as opposed to 52 weeks. It submits that there has been no change to the work requirement of EPTO’s who are employed to supply a technical service during the academic year from September to June. Full-time Technical Officers provide the College’s technical requirements during the summer recess. The College does not have an additional 12-weeks of work to allocate to the workers concerned, as there are no Fine Art courses in the Summer. 60% of college employees are part-time workers. It does not have the funding to cover the significant costs associated with the claim, which amounts to a pay claim in the order of 30 percent. The Court has given careful consideration to the oral and written submissions of the parties. The Court acknowledges that the workers concerned have long held aspiration to move to full-time annual contracts. The Court also notes that engagement on this dispute has been protracted, with the Covid-19 pandemic contributing to delays. The Court notes that during negotiations the College offered to increase the number of weeks that EPTO’s are engaged on a yearly basis to 42 weeks. That offer was rejected as it did not meet the aspiration of EPTO’s to be employed on 52-week contracts like their full-time colleagues. The College told the Court that the offer of two additional weeks is now withdrawn. In the view of the Court, however that offer was not unreasonable given the work requirements as outlined by the College. Having regard to all of the circumstances, the Court recommends that the College should reinstate its offer to increase the number of weeks that EPTO’s are engaged on a yearly basis to 42 weeks for the academic year. The Court recommends that parties should engage in relation to the flexibility required by the College regarding how that additional time will be implemented. The matter of Continuing Professional Development should be included in these discussions. The Court so recommends.
NOTE Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Therese Hickey, Court Secretary. |
