Labour Court recommends compensation terms in Glaxosmithkline restructuring dispute

In 2010, the Labour Court recommended compensation and shift arrangements in a dispute between Glaxosmithkline and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union. The recommendation was signed on 13 August 2010. The dispute followed an earlier recommendation on ending the holiday-cover agreement. The union sought compensation for lost shift premiums, overtime and roster changes as Glaxosmithkline restructured its site. The company said it was loss-making and operating at 40% of production capacity. The Court recommended that workers made redundant receive an additional payment equal to what they would have received under the annual cover agreement up to the redundancy date, with redundancy pay calculated using earnings as if the agreement had continued. It did not recommend conceding the union’s claim for irregular, non-rostered overtime. For shift patterns, the Court recommended that the company’s current offer be accepted as an interim measure and reviewed in September 2011. If a permanent four-rotation pattern had not been restored by then, compensation should equal twice the annual loss, less payments under the step-down arrangement. Workers moved from four- to three-rotation work and later made redundant should receive their actual earnings loss through redundancy, with redundancy pay based on their earlier earnings.