Labour Court recommends against Fás worker’s upgrade claim

The Labour Court recommended that Fás not concede the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s claim to upgrade a worker from Grade 8 to a Management Grade post. The recommendation was signed on 15 January 2007. The dispute concerned a worker in Fás’s Services To Business Division who worked on the Overseas Graduate Programme, placing newly qualified Irish graduates in full-time jobs abroad. The union argued that he was the programme’s sole staff member and cited a draft structure showing him as a Grade 7 Assistant Manager, as well as favourable performance reports. Fás said the worker performed Grade 8 duties and that promotion required an approved vacancy and open competition. It also said he had unsuccessfully applied for Grade 7 vacancies advertised in April 2006. The Court considered the parties’ submissions and did not recommend concession of the claim.