Labour Court recommends £1,500 payment for R.T.E. self-editing workers

The Labour Court recommended that workers in R.T.E.’s self-editing area receive a £1,500 lump sum in addition to normal compensation. It signed the recommendation on 31 July 1991, after a dispute with the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union over changes to switching centre, maintenance and sound operations. R.T.E. said modern technology and cost pressures required changes and that there would be no compulsory redundancies. The union argued that the proposals went beyond existing agreements and threatened sound operators’ work and career prospects. The Court recommended that compensation continue under the existing formula and that R.T.E. give workers fuller information about redeployment and career prospects. It noted the union had accepted the switching centre proposals and recommended implementing the maintenance proposals after local discussions about training and accommodation. It also found that self-editing had been excluded from the earlier broadcasting agreement, the basis for the separate lump sum recommendation.