Nolan judgement a victory for trade unions
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Drivers at Nolan's were on wage rates which averaged between £2
and £2.50 an hour, working 15 hours a day, six days a week.
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One of the longest trade union disputes in recent history was
effectively ended in the Supreme Court last week when it
overturned a £1.3 million award for damages and costs against
SIPTU. The High Court had awarded the £1.3 million to Nolan
Transport in Wexford in December 1994. A High court judge had
ruled that a SIPTU strike at the haulage company was not a bona
fide dispute. The dispute was one of the most bitter anywhere in
Ireland in the 1990s.
Nolan Transport had used the 1990 Industrial Relations Act as a
prop to launch their claim for costs and damages against SIPTU. A
loss in the Supreme Court would have led to a flood of other such
cases against trade unions involved in contentious disputes.
Nolan's had claimed that the ballot for strike action was
improperly carried out, therefore the dispute was invalid and
SIPTU should bear the costs of lost business as a result of the
pickets.
In 1992 when the dispute started drivers at Nolan's were on wage
rates which averaged between £2 and £2.50 an hour, working 15
hours a day, six days a week. No allowances were made for
unsocial hours or weekend work. Workers had no sick pay either.
Justice O'Flaherty, one of the Supreme Court judges presiding,
said in his judgement that reading through the court papers he
could not but think he was living in a bygone era such as at the
turn of the century. O'Flaherty said ``We have surely advanced
from the culture that then prevailed''. He should probably get out
more as the Nolan dispute is symptomatic of where trade unionism
and workers rights are at the turn of another century.
Labour Court ignored by Health Board
100 nursery school workers and 20 of their managers are being
forced into taking industrial action next week by the Eastern
Health Board whom they claim has refused to pay them a fair wage.
The nursery workers have been trying for three years to process
their claim with the Health Board. IMPACT union official Robbie
Ryan told An Phoblacht the background to the dispute. They were
he said ``abysmally paid''. This was made all the more worse
considering they were qualified workers with Diplomas in Child
care, providing ``structured educational programmes as well as
professional care''.
Weekly wages in the schools are currently between £165 and £200.
Nursery managers get £245 a week. IMPACT took a case to the
Labour Relations Commission. The Health Board did not attend. An
independent review recommended parity for the workers with set
Vocational Educational Committee (VEC) administrative grades.
This would mean a wage increase for the nursery workers on a
scale running from £215 to £257 a week and up to £363 a week for
managers.
A subsequent Labour Court judgement upheld the recommendation of
the independent review and ordered another review which will
ultimately lead to the nursery workers salaries being pegged to
that of higher VEC grades. The implementation date was supposed
to be 1 January 1997 but the Eastern Health Board refuses to
implement the initial wage increase until January next. They
won't commit themselves to the second review either.
Ryan emphasises that the nursery workers are ``extremely
disappointed at having to take industrial action''. He said if the
dispute goes ahead it will be very serious for the trade union
movement as it will mean the government has effectively ignored
the industrial relations process it created. Pickets are set to
be placed on 27 May.
Unhappy workers wreak havoc
Hospitals were shut down and operations cancelled. Refuse stood
uncollected. Parking violations were ignored. Water supply and
other local government services were run by management as
thousands of craft workers staged unofficial pickets at health
board and local authority workplaces over the past ten days.
Craft workers placed pickets in Waterford, Kilkenny, Limerick
Clare, North Tipperary, Cork, Kerry, Galway, Cavan, Meath, Louth
and this week in Dublin. The result was that thousands of other
unionised workers refused to pass the pickets, causing chaos in
hospital and local government services.
The strikes began after craft union and SIPTU negotiators sealed
two separate deals with health board and local authority
management. In total 30,000 general workers and 4,500 craft
workers were represented at the negotiations. Balloting on the
agreement begins this weekend.
A communications breakdown and some dissatisfaction with the
outline terms of the deal hammered out at the Labour Relations
Commission sparked the first pickets on Monday 11 May. As the
pickets spread through the week it became clear that there are
serious problems within some of the craft unions, particularly
the TEEU.
SIPTU's chief negotiator Matt Merrgian told An Phoblacht that
they had ``urged our members to do their work'' In terms of SIPTU
members placing pickets in Cork and then in Dublin last Monday
Merrigan said the union was ``unaware there was dissatisfaction''.
The end result of the week's pickets is a trade union movement in
disarray, a very disgruntled public and employers let off the
hook. Local authority and health board workers do have genuine
and legitimate grievances. They need to remember though that the
only way to pursue their just demands is within a unified
movement. Unity is strength.
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