Labour Court sends Peamount Hospital craftworkers' agreement dispute for opinion

The Labour Court recommended referring a dispute over applying the Craftworkers' Parallel Benchmarking Agreement/Analogue 2003 to four Peamount Hospital craftworkers to the Implementation Body for its opinion. The recommendation was signed on 11 October 2011. Peamount Hospital accepted that the agreement should guide the workers' pay and conditions but argued the claim could increase costs under the Public Service Agreement. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union and the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union sought application of an existing agreement. The Court said the issue raised a fundamental question with possible wider health-sector implications.