Labour Court recommends pay increase and €1,000 lump sum for Bus Eireann staff

In 2002, the Labour Court recommended a 15% pay increase, offset by the 5% already paid, and a €1,000 lump sum for staff covered by a dispute involving Bus Eireann. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association brought the dispute on behalf of 268 clerical staff. The recommendation was signed on 4 July 2002. The Court said the existing pay link between clerical and executive grades had proved satisfactory and found no sustainable case for replacing it with alignment to another internal grade. It recommended that the outstanding 10% increase be paid retrospectively to 1 August 2001. The Court also recommended conceding the unions' expenses claim, but not their annual leave claim, and increasing overtime rates from time and one quarter to time and one half, with payment moved from two weeks in arrears to one. Other recommendations covered working patterns, recruitment, superior duty and flexibility.