Worker

Employer

Anonymised Parties

{A Driver}

{A Service Provider}

Representatives

Dajana Sinik IBEC

Act

Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 13 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969

IR - SC - 00001103

10/02/2023

The Driver has been working with the Respondent since 2008.

The Driver has a number of concerns arising from lack of clarity on his current terms and conditions which are contained in various collective agreements and lack of information on changes being made. The agreements are not accessible by him and other staff. He is also seeking access to the weekly circular.

The Driver says the training in relation to health and safety issues is not adequate. Each supervisor deals with difficult situations in different ways so there is a lack of consistency in conduct. He says there is intimidation and bullying in the workplace. His grievance was ignored. He cannot get experience in other positions for promotion which requires broader experience despite his length of service. He was put on an attendance control program to prevent success in his application for promotion.

The dispute relates to collective issues in respect of negotiated and union agreed pay deal.

13.—(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where a trade dispute (other than a dispute connected with rates of pay of, hours or times of work of, or annual holidays of, a body of workers) exists or is apprehended and involves workers within the meaning of Part VI of the Principal Act, a party to the dispute may refer it to a rights commissioner.

Accordingly, the adjudicator has no jurisdiction to hear any such collective issue.

The claim form it is meandering and vague and does not provide any specific times or dates in relation to any of the multiple issues alluded to. There is an obligation on every claimant to exhaust the internal grievance procedures prior to submitting a claim to the WRC under the IR act. As this has not been done the adjudicator should decline to hear the complaint in respect of any individual issue. The claimant has submitted a number of e-mails with the company encompassing collective agreements, recruitment and selection, general data protection concerns and collective rosters dating back to 2017, six years prior to his submission of the claim.

The claimant did submit a one formal 15 page grievance to the respondent in September 2020. Multiple meetings took place in October and November 2020. The claimant’s grievance was deemed to not be upheld. This grievance was concluded approximately 2.5 years prior to the submission of the claim. It not appropriate to raise it at this late stage due to the delay. It is unclear from the claim form and documents attached what the basis of the claimant’s ‘trade dispute’ in fact is. The company has an agreed grievance procedure which is available to the claimant should he wish to use it. However, it is not appropriate to use to the WRC and the respondent’s time to initiate an adjudication investigation where the matter to be investigated is not clear.

In conducting my investigation, I have taken into account all relevant submissions presented to me by the parties.

S8 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990 defines “trade dispute” which means any dispute between employers and workers which is connected with the employment or non-employment, or the terms or conditions of or affecting the employment, of any person.

13.—(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, where a trade dispute (other than a dispute connected with rates of pay of, hours or times of work of, or annual holidays of, a body of workers) exists or is apprehended and involves workers within the meaning of Part VI of the Principal Act, a party to the dispute may refer it to a rights commissioner.

The Worker is seeking collective agreements and information about changes to terms and conditions. These are collective matters and do not form part of my investigation.

The Worker raised a number of issues with the company going back to 2017 regarding health and safety, driver training, bullying and harassment, and concerns regarding access and application for promotion given his length of service. The Worker lodged a grievance in September 2020 which was not upheld. He did not exhaust the internal grievance procedure of the company.

The Worker is required to exhaust the company grievance procedure prior to making a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission pursuant to S13 of the Industrial Relations Act 1969.