Labour Court recommends 52-week cap for two Coillte fitters

The Labour Court recommended raising the maximum voluntary redundancy payment offered to two Coillte fitters from 27 weeks' pay to 52 weeks' pay in a recommendation dated 3 January 1997. The dispute followed an earlier recommendation on redeployment. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union said the available jobs could reduce the workers' skills or earnings and that both had been laid off without pay since November 1996. Coillte said its voluntary early-retirement schemes required prior approval from the Minister for Finance and that it had offered each worker an additional £1,000.