Labour Court recommends Bourke’s Funeral Directors reject union staffing claim

The Labour Court recommended that Bourke’s Funeral Directors should not concede the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s claim over minimum staffing levels under the 1970 Dublin Undertakers Agreement. The recommendation was signed on 27 July 2005. The union said the agreement required three staff per yard and claimed the company employed only one full-time and one part-time driver. Bourke’s said it employed three full-time drivers, including the owner-manager, and argued the agreement had expired in 1971. The Court found the agreement had expired and was never formally renewed or updated. It said local employers might observe some provisions by agreement or custom, but that did not make the agreement binding on the sector as a whole.