Labour Court recommends time-for-time arrangement at Wessel Cable

The Labour Court recommended that time off granted to individual Wessel Cable Limited employees outside their annual leave be worked back on a time-for-time basis. The recommendation, concerning the company and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, was signed on 28 August 1996. The union objected that the arrangement could require Saturday work and overtime at basic rates, and said it risked introducing annualised hours. The company said workers covering absences were paid overtime and that employees had opportunities to make up the time. The Court said the recommendation applied only to the individual requests discussed at the hearing and should not establish a general system without normal negotiations.