LCR23191

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Addendum to protocol on seniority for moving Unite members between departments.  

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 13 May 2025 in accordance with Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990.  

A Labour Court hearing took place on 30 September 2025.

UNION'S ARGUMENTS:

    1- The Union seeks that the Addendum applies same seniority principles as the agreed Protocol and to extend those principles to situations where staff are required to move between Departments.

    2- The Union are seeking confirmation from management that the Addendum will be used going forward as it has been previously operated with without incident.

EMPLOYER'S ARGUMENTS:

• 1- The Employer agreed that they agreed the protocol but did not agree the addendum.
• 2- The Employer cannot agree that seniority is applied when it is necessary to move employees from one department to another. That transfer are based on skillsets.
• 3- The Employer claims that the Flexibility Clause which has been in place since 1987 is still effective today and to put as suggested in the Addendum would place a level of unnecessary constraints on the business.

RECOMMENDATION:

The issue in dispute between the parties relates to a proposed addendum to an existing protocol and whether or not the addendum was agreed by both parties. At the hearing on 30 September 2025 the Court afforded both parties the opportunity to submit additional documents that they felt might support their position.

The Union submitted that the Addendum under dispute applies the same seniority principles as the agreed Protocol and extends those principles to situations where staff are required to move between Departments. They also submitted that the Protocol and the Addendum were negotiated and agreed in the context of a wide ranging independently facilitated process between the parties and was facilitated by Mr Eamonn Devoy. The Union set out the background to the Protocol and confirmed that it was agreed in late 2023 and operated without incident.

The text of the addendum was the product of negotiation among a subcommittee which the Employer was party to. 

In a review note dated 15 January 2024 the independent facilitator noted

 “There was some ambiguity expressed, as to whether the Seniority Protocol (see attached) was in fact agreed as Unite explained they had shared an Addendum to the agreement with management, which is currently the subject of local discussions and is not yet agreed.

After some discussion, it was agreed that the framework protocol document has the support of all parties, and it is only the addendum that is outstanding. Consequently, it was noted that local discussions have commenced on an addendum, which is designed to address a number of potential scenarios that may arise. These discussions will continue at local level with any residual matters of disagreement being referred back to the facilitator and in that context the framework protocol document is agreed, and the six months trial period shall commence from a current date.

On 29 January 2024 the Union representative sent an email to the independent facilitator and other members of the subcommittee stating, “I have attached the revised work completed to date on the Seniority Agreement and the Addendum which will hopefully be ratified by the OTC Committee tomorrow.”

Unite in their supplementary submission confirmed that there are no surviving minutes of the meeting on the 30 January 2024. There is a priorities agenda for that meeting that does not list the Addendum as an agenda issue.

No response was received to that email. The Union submitted that operationally the Addendum had was being used and identified 13 cases where they say it applied and are seeking that management confirm the Addendum will be used going forward.

IBEC on behalf of the Employer submitted that they agreed the Protocol but did not agree the Addendum. It was discussed at subcommittee level, but their position remained the same that they cannot agree that seniority is applied when it is necessary to move employees from one department to another. They do not accept that they have being applying it. It is their submission that transfer between departments are made based on the skill sets available and the skills set required and that operationally they cannot move away from that.

In their supplementary submission the Employer quotes from minutes of a company /union meeting on 21 October 2023 which states “During the original discussion the proposal moved to other aspects as in moving between departments. Unite noted that this was a verbal agreement, and they would take offline to discuss and will take instruction from the representatives. Action: Company to review addendum and will feed back to the Union committee at the next meeting”.

The Employer stated that the Flexibility Clause which has been in place since 1987 is still effective today and to put in place a process as suggested in the Addendum would place a level of unnecessary constraints on the business.

It is clear from the parties’ submissions both written and oral, that discussions did take place in respect of the Addendum. However, there was nothing before the Court to suggest that those discussions came to a conclusion one way or the other.

On that basis the Court cannot recommend concession of the Union’s claim. It is still open to the parties to continue and conclude those discussions if they wish.

The Court does not recommend concession of this claim.  

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Louise O'Donnell
AM	______________________
22 October 2025	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Ms Áine Maunsell, Court Secretary.