| CD/23/261 | RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR22939 |
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACTS 1946 TO 2015
SECTION 20(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969
PARTIES:
AND
A WORKER
DIVISION:
| Chairman: | Mr Foley |
| Employer Member: | Mr O'Brien |
| Worker Member: | Ms Treacy |
SUBJECT:
Referral under Section 20(1) Industrial Relations Act, 1969.
BACKGROUND:
The Worker referred this case to the Labour Court on 25 August 2023 in accordance with Section 20 (1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969, and agreed to be bound by the Court’s Recommendation. A Labour Court hearing took place on 4 March 2024.
RECOMMENDATION:
The Court has given very careful consideration to the written and oral submissions of the parties.
The employer, as was its right under the statute, chose not to attend the hearing of the Court. The Court however was, as a result, deprived of the perspective of the employer in relation to the within trade dispute.
It is evident to the Court from the oral and written submissions of the worker that there is disputation between the parties as to whether she was ever an employee of the employer. It also appears evident from those submissions that justiciable matters may be the subject of dispute in various other fora of competent jurisdiction.
In these circumstances, it is difficult to conclude that any substantive engagement of the Court with the matters alleged by the worker to be the subject of an industrial relations trade dispute, could offer any realistic possibility of a voluntary agreement being reached between the parties such as to form the basis for a resolution of their trade dispute.
The Court encourages the parties to reflect on the necessity for pragmatism, reality and common sense in their search, if such there be in this case, for voluntary resolution of their industrial relations trade dispute.
The Court concludes in that context that no substantive opinion of the Court given in the form of a recommendation, can assist in the resolution of the trade dispute which is contended to exist between these parties alongside a range of other justiciable disputes between them.
The Court therefore recommends that, whatever about any other disputation existing between the parties, they should regard their industrial relations trade dispute as resolved.
The Court so recommends.
 | Signed on behalf of the Labour Court |
| |
| Kevin Foley |
| CC | ______________________ |
| 13 March 2024 | Chairman |
NOTE
Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary.