The chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission has warned the “forces of the centre” need to unite if the country is to avoid a period of political instability and a series of elections in quick succession which could undermine the recovery.

Dublin Airport Authority has given more than 1,000 of its staff until March 15 to accept a lump sum payment after their defined benefit scheme was frozen at the end of last year.

An increasing number of companies funded by public money are refusing to attend hearings of the industrial relations machinery of the State and/or refusing to be bound by their recommendations.

The group of unions at ESB has threatened legal action if the company’s annual accounts do not refer to its pension scheme as defined benefit and as a “balance of costs” scheme.

The HSE has received thousands of applications from frontline staff for its three-year career break scheme, raising speculation management will have to turn down a number of applications in order to protect vital services.

Public service management want to cut the cost of sick leave by 5% or €25m by the end of the year.

A mediator has recommended that the proposed 950 redundancies at Ulster Bank be voluntary and that departing staff be given four weeks’ pay per year of service inclusive of statutory.

As head of the Irish Bank Officials Association, Larry Broderick is charged with the unenviable task of negotiating the best deal possible for 2,500 AIB workers while keeping compulsory redundancies off the table, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

As the cost of the public service comes under increasing scrutiny, the reforms brought by the Croke Park Agreement may not be enough. The groups involved must work quickly or they will have to consider alternative methods to improve the sector, writes Kyran FitzGerald

TALKS are to begin next week on ways to address the rapidly escalating deficit in the pension scheme for the Dublin Airport Authority and Aer Lingus workers, now reportedly in the red by up to €600 million.

THE union representing thousands of Bank of Ireland staff says its members will stop the bank from getting rid of more than 450 staff here if the Government derails the voluntary severance package on offer.

Cashel: Two multinational pharmaceutical firms — Allergan and Ranbaxy — have agreed pay increases in recent months, with Allergan’s deal stretching to the end of 2013, Industrial Relations News reports in its latest edition.

EMPLOYERS should not entertain requests for pay increases this year, according to IBEC.

SEVERAL pieces of key employment legislation, long sought by trade unions, have been stalled by the collapse of the last Government and the resultant general election.

FINANCE union IBOA has said it still believes the almost 500 voluntary redundancies at Bank of Ireland’s Irish operations will proceed as agreed in spite of rumours the bank may need to negotiate its restructuring with the EU.

A SURGE in the number of people making claims under the Payment of Wages Act has prompted the Rights Commissioners to dedicate four commissioners to dealing with the workload.

JUST 2,800 people are in line to avail of the HSE’s voluntary redundancy/early retirement scheme — and the number is expected to drop much further in the coming weeks.

IN spite of the controversy in a number of industry sectors over the binding agreements which set pay and conditions, negotiations are almost complete on the introduction of a new agreement for 4,000 plumbers, fitters and welders.

SPECULATION is mounting that the Government will cut the pensions of existing public service pensioners in the upcoming budget.

THE Labour Relations Commission has published its proposals on how to operate the new “career-average” pension scheme for future entrants to the public service.

FRESH from its debate with cabin crew over new rostering arrangements, Aer Lingus is now faced with a ballot for industrial action by its pilots over the same issue.

IMPACT trade union has expressed concern at a Labour Court recommendation that workers at disability support service Cheshire Ireland be subject to pay cuts on a par with the public service.

MORE than three months after Aer Lingus and its cabin crew signed off on new cost-saving measures, unions and management are still in dispute over the rostering element which is key to those savings.

THE number of notified redundancies tripled between 2007 and 2009 – but employers on the whole are resisting the urge to reduce redundancy payments in the current climate.

A WEEK after Transport Minister Noel Dempsey demanded that “no-strike” clauses be introduced into the transport industry, the one Irish company that operates such a clause has scrapped it.

SOUTH Africa’s Ambassador to Ireland has had her claim for diplomatic immunity in an employment rights case upheld by the Rights Commissioner.

THE Government is preparing to renegotiate last year’s controversial national wage deal.

SIPTU members working for the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have put forward proposals which could allow the authority to at least partly realise its aim of introducing €40 million in cost savings.

THE Defence Forces have been told to continue paying out about €5 million to staff working on the border even though a number of barracks there have closed and the threat of violence has greatly diminished.

DESPITE an increasing trend among employers towards a refusal to countenance pay increases, Guinness maker Diageo has agreed to a 2.5% rise due to a number of its staff under the national wage agreement.

A FORMER director of Fás, now director general of IBEC, has claimed the state training agency’s “brand has been damaged” by the recent overspending debacle and admitted there had been failures in the organisation.

THE three-week long dispute between Coca-Cola and a large section of its distribution staff should start to be resolved today at a hearing of the Labour Court.

AMID the ever-rising numbers of people joining the dole queues, a study has exposed discrepancies in the amounts companies are willing to pay in redundancy when letting their staff go.

THE Irish Aviation Authority has failed in its attempts to avoid paying the terms of a transitional wage agreement and now faces a bill for a wage increase of €4.5 million.

UP to 100 staff have written to RTÉ opposing the introduction of pay cuts of up to 12.5% as part of an effort to recoup a predicted €68m in losses this year.

THEY have borne the brunt of the effects of these recessionary times and they would appear to have had enough.

The editor of Industrial Relations News says workers will accept wage restraint measures in order to protect their jobs during the current recession.

A BUILDER has been ordered to pay almost e93,000 to seven Polish workers amid claims they were paid less than the minimum wage and were given no wage slips.

IRELAND has one of the highest rates of employee disaffection in the world, according to a study of workplace conflict.

THE ESB has become the latest large employer to ignore the recession and agree to pay the first phase of the new national pay deal to 4,000 of its staff.

A NUMBER of private sector companies have already signed up to the first phase of the new national wage agreement, even though the future of the deal still hangs in the balance.

THE Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI) has been ordered to pay €43,000 each to two former employees who it was found to have unfairly dismissed.

AMID pay talks and perceived “races to the bottom” in industry standards and pay, one would expect the trade union movement to be showing a “united” front these days.

SEVERANCE terms of 4.5 weeks’ pay per year of service, plus statutory entitlement, have been agreed for up to 50 redundancies at Kostal in Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick.