Labour Court varies Coca Cola Bottlers recommendation to €2,000 per worker

In 2004, the Labour Court varied the Rights Commissioner’s recommendation in Coca Cola Bottlers’ appeal, recommending €2,000 to each of four workers in full and final settlement. It did not recommend reinstating their entertainment allowance. The decision was signed on 2 July 2004. The workers’ union, the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, said they had been misled and that the allowance continued in Dublin and Munster. The company said a 1991 agreement abolished it and that compensation had covered the workers’ losses. The Court found the agreement clearly abolished the allowance, but later payments and differing regional terms caused confusion. It said that confusion made the workers’ frustration understandable.