K Club facing greenkeeper strike

A YEAR after it hosted the Ryder Cup, the K Club is facing strike action by the greenkeepers, who made the course playable despite terrible weather conditions.

Colm Quinlan of the keepers’ union Amicus will serve notice of the action on the club within the next two days and it is likely to occur within the next fortnight.

The strike, which was backed unanimously by the workers, has been prompted by four issues.

Firstly and most controversially for the union, the club management wants to make two greenkeepers compulsorily redundant with a package of four weeks pay per year of service — a settlement which Mr Quinlan said is “skimpy”.

The union is not prepared to countenance compulsory redundancies but, according to Industrial Relations News, it is willing to engage with a voluntary redundancy programme that would facilitate redeployment where necessary or appropriate.

Secondly, the union is taking the action because the company has cut the working week for the greenkeepers to three days. That matter has been referred by the union to the rights commissioner.

The third issue is over pay. According to Amicus, a pay increase from €14 to €14.56 per hour was meant to kick in at the start of September but as yet the workers have not received it. Pay was also an issue at the club just days before the Ryder Cup last year. A Labour Court recommendation eventually averted industrial action and saw the greenkeepers offered phased pay increases of up to 50%.

The fourth issue for the union is the proposed outsourcing of certain services. There are also fears expressed that permanent staff at the club may be replaced by temporary summertime staff.

However, Mr Quinlan said: “If the compulsory redundancies are not lifted there will be industrial action at the K Club in the next week,” said Mr Quinlan.

Yesterday when contacted, a K Club spokeswoman said: “From the K Club’s point of view we do not know anything about this.”