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LCR22344

FULL RECOMMENDATION

CD/20/252
CCC-165156-20

RECOMMENDATION NO. LCR22344

SECTION 26(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1990

PARTIES :

IEC FLEX

- AND -

55 GENERAL OPERATIVES
(REPRESENTED BY SERVICES INDUSTRIAL PROFESSIONAL TECHNICAL UNION)

DIVISION :

Chairman:	Mr Haugh
Employer Member:	Ms Doyle
Worker Member:	Ms Treacy

SUBJECT:

1. Pay claim.

BACKGROUND:

2. 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 23 September 2020 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.

A Labour Court hearing took place in a Virtual Court Room on 7 January 2021.

The within dispute concerns a pay claim by SIPTU on behalf of its members employed by Flex/Irish Express Cargo (‘the Company’) in Cork and Limerick. The most recent Company-Union pay agreement expired on 30 June 2020. The Union is seeking a 2.5% pay increase for its members backdated to 1 July 2020.

In support of this claim, the Union cites pay agreements concluded in Mirror Controls International (also a company in the Flex group), Saint Gobain and Kostal. The Union submits that basic rates of pay applicable to its members employed by the Company are very low, ranging between €10.25 and €13.06 per hour.

The Company informed the Court that its corporate parent has directed that there be no merit pay increases across the group globally in 2021 due to the impact of Covid 19 on trading conditions.

The Company spokesman said that he did not regard the comparators cited by the Union as appropriate comparators as each of them is in the manufacturing sector whereas the Company is a ‘cost-plus’ service provider to such companies.

The Company agrees a fixed price with the businesses it services and cannot pass on any increased costs to those companies. The marginal profits generated by the Company, it says, are not sufficient to absorb the cost of a pay increase which would have to be applied to all staff, not just Union members.

RECOMMENDATION :

Having carefully considered the Parties’ submissions, the Court recommends concession of the Union’s claim for a 2.5% pay increase backdated to 1 July 2020.

The Court so recommends.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court

	Alan Haugh
NJ	______________________
15 January 2021	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Noel Jordan, Court Secretary.