LCR23126

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Pay Claim

BACKGROUND:

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 18th November 2024 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.

Labour Court hearings took place on 16th January 2025 and 24th February 2025.

RECOMMENDATION:

The matter before the Court involves a pay claim by SIPTU on behalf of drivers, helpers and general operatives. The claim also seeks improvements in respect of pension, sick pay and holidays.  The last pay agreement between the parties expired on 31 March 2024.  The agreement is sought for a three-year period to expire 31 March 2027. The Court held a hearing on 16 January 2024 and 24 February 2025. The parties were invited to make an additional submission in advance of the hearing on 24 February 2025.

 In the course of discussions between the parties the Unions submitted that it was their position that the pay rates in this company were far below the industry norms. It was agreed by the parties to engage the services of an independent assessor to carry out a benchmarking exercise on rates in the sector across the following providers. Greyhound Panda Thorntons, Oxygen and Bord Na Mona.  The outcome of that report concluded that there were significant variations across providers, but that overall Bord Na Mona were 92.07% of total remuneration in relation to drivers and 92.26 % of the average remuneration for helpers.

SIPTU in their initial submission to the Court stated that they had an issue with the report as it included a bonus for Drivers in Bord Na Mona even though the bonus had not been paid for two years. This distorted the actual pay differential between Bord Na Mona drivers and other drivers.

 In August 2024 the Employer applied a pay increase to all staff back dated to April 2024. The value to the drivers of that increase was 4.7%, helpers 6.00% and other staff 3.5%.

 SIPTU in their claim for 2024 were looking for increases on top of what the Employer had already paid ranging from 9.63% to 36.99%. They also sought increases in; annual leave by five days, subsistence rates, sick pay, overtime rates, and Employer pension contributions.   No costings for these additional claims were provided to the Court by the Union, or for the additional pay increases sought for 2024, which were not in line with the findings of the report commissioned by the parties.

 In respect of 2025 the Employer proposed a 2.00% pay increase for all staff except helpers who would receive an increase of 5.9% and for 2026 a 3% pay increase for all staff.  The Employer accepted that the bonus scheme had not paid out for the previous two years and they proposed an amended scheme linked to different Key Performance indicators which they believed would generate bonus payments.

For 2025 SIPTU were looking for a pay increases of €1 an hour for all staff as well as the additional issues identified earlier, and a new bonus scheme valued at €100 to €220 per month depending on grade and for 2026 a further increase of €1 an hour.

 In response to a query form the Court SIPTU confirmed that they were looking for recently agreed Panda (southeast region) rates a copy of which they supplied to the Court and the Employer. They stated that the figures in the bonus scheme they were seeking were from a daily attendance and a KPI bonus paid by Panda who they saw as the appropriate comparator company. However, they accepted that the comparator bonus was not a guaranteed bonus it was depending on attendance and some unknown KPI’s so just multiplying the figures by five days and by 52 weeks did not give an accurate value of the bonus to Workers. They had no further information in respect of how the scheme operated.

The Court having considered the written submissions received, the oral submissions made at the hearings, and the outcome of the benchmarking exercise commissioned by the parties recommends as follows.

 2024 no further increase on the payments already made which ranged from 3.5% to 6.00%  

From 1 April 2025 3% pay increase for all grades except helpers who will receive a 6% increase and

From 1 April 2026 All grades top receives a 3.25 % pay increase.

The agreement to expire on 31st March 2027.

In relation to the bonus scheme parties should engage locally to explore changes to the scheme that would generate payments to staff.  The Court makes no recommendation at this stage in respect of the other issues raised by SIPTU.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Louise O'Donnell
CC	______________________
18th March 2025	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary.