Labour Court recommends talks on UPC sales targets

The Labour Court recommended discussions between UPC and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union to clarify which customer calls count toward sales targets. It also said the sales work was part of workers’ contractual duties and that using the disciplinary code was not inappropriate. The recommendation was signed on 20 September 2013. The dispute followed verbal warnings to 12 workers for missing targets in UPC’s sales-through-service programme. The union said the programme began as an incentive and workers were concerned that missing targets could ultimately lead to dismissal. UPC relied on a contractual flexibility clause and said 83% of workers reached their targets. The Court also said employees should be fully informed of the requirement.