Labour Court recommends talks on Brooks Hanley overtime dispute

The Labour Court recommended that Brooks Hanley and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union hold further discussions on proposed work-practice changes and that the union lift its overtime embargo. The recommendation was dated 18 September 2003. The dispute involved 14 timber-yard workers who said improvements to the yard had reduced their regular overtime earnings. If the parties agreed the changes and overtime resumed, the Court recommended that the company consider claims for losses caused by factors outside the workers’ control, measured against their average overtime earnings in the three years before the embargo.