In 1992, the Labour Court recommended a phased 3% pay rise for workers at Dairygold Co-Operative Society. The recommendation was signed on 16 December 1992 and concerned workers at the former Ballyclough society, which employed 480 people.
The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union sought the 3% increase under the local bargaining clause of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress, citing workers' cooperation with change. Dairygold pointed to trading pressures and proposed workplace changes and concessions to help fund the increase.
The Labour Court considered the unions' response to the company's proposals reasonable, particularly their rejection of changes to sick pay and additional breaks in the Butter Department. It recommended a 1.5% adjustment from 1 November 1992 and a further 1.5% from 1 May 1993, unless the society could demonstrate serious deterioration in its circumstances resulting from the currency situation or the G.A.T.T. agreement.