Labour Court recommends pooled bonus payments at Bailieborough Foods

In 1990, the Labour Court recommended that operators at Bailieborough Foods (Nef) agree to pool earnings under a revised bonus scheme, with the company adjusting tonnage rates to avoid consequential losses. The recommendation was signed on 11 April 1990. The dispute followed a change from a group bonus scheme to individual piece rates. An engineer's report estimated that one cuber operator had lost about 12% in earnings. The union, the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, sought £3,000 for that worker and opposed pooling earnings among four workers. The company argued that pooling would have prevented a loss and said it had paid £120 to all workers in December 1988.