Labour Court backs Group 5 pay scale for St Luke's Home care assistants

The Labour Court recommended that St. Luke's Home concede a union claim to place its care assistants on the Group 5 pay scale. The recommendation, dated 7 May 2003, followed a finding that the workers were properly classified as care assistants and that comparable Southern Health Board staff were paid on Group 5. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union had sought a 13-point Group 5 scale, with a maximum of €22,115; the existing Group 1 scale had a maximum of €21,404. The change was to take effect from the date of the earlier recommendation in the dispute, dated 1 February 2002.