Labour Court recommends talks on more varied National Gallery attendant duties

The Labour Court recommended that the National Gallery of Ireland and 50 Attendant Grades, represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, discuss ways to give room attendants greater variety in their work while maintaining security systems. The recommendation was signed on 15 January 2010. The union sought to reintegrate room attendant duties with those of security attendants, as had been the practice before 1993. It said this would provide a better working environment. The National Gallery argued integration could compromise security and cited a 2000 survey recommending fewer staff have access to control-room procedures. The Court considered the union’s objective reasonable but its proposed means unacceptable to management because of possible effects on security practice. It recommended discussions on other ways to advance the objective, which could not impinge on proper security systems, management’s sole responsibility.