Labour Court sees rise in referrals

INDUSTRIAL rows referred to the Labour Court last year were up 6% at a time when the number of days lost to disputes hit a 30-year low.

In the last three years total referrals to the court have increased by more than 20%, according to the court’s 2002 report published today.

And in the report’s foreword, Labour Court chairman Finbarr Flood expresses his disappointment at the re-emergence of the ‘revolving door’ phenomenon.

Mr Flood said parties in dispute were using the court as a staging post rather than the last step in the dispute resolution process, a practice that was damaging the general operation of the industrial relations procedures.

Days lost due to industrial disputes reduced by more than 80% - from 114,613 lost in 2001 to 21,257 in 2002.

Even discounting the effect the teachers’ dispute had on the outturn for 2001, the figure for 2002 is still significantly less than in the previous year and is, in fact, the lowest total recorded for over 30 years.

Last year there were 27 industrial disputes, affecting 3,553 workers and 43 firms.

The greatest number of days lost was in the manufacturing sector (8,989 days), followed by the health and social work sector (5,465 days) and the transport, storage and communications sector (2,958 days).

Equality cases, in particular, showed the most marked increase - up 19% on 2001.

Discriminatory grounds defined in equality legislation were cited in the equality referrals.

In a significant number of dismissal cases in which gender discrimination was cited the applicant complained of dismissal as a result of pregnancy.

The Labour Court completed over 12% more cases last year - 591 cases in 2002, compared with 525 in 2001.

Topping the disputes’ listing was pay, followed by dismissal, local agreement procedures and special payments.

Public sector organisations, especially in the health and transport sectors, accounted for over a quarter of industrial relations completed during the year.

Over 40% of cases were referred by the Labour Relations Commission, a figure that was up both in number and as a proportion of total referrals received.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Harney, acknowledging the court’s excellent work, pointed out that the number of cases coming before the court had increased in both number and complexity.