Labour Court recommends reserve driver tester panels with pay and staff priority changes

The Labour Court recommended that the Road Safety Authority’s proposal for regional panels of reserve driver testers be accepted with changes, in a recommendation signed on 8 January 2014. The dispute with the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union concerned using reserve testers on contracts for service. The union argued the Authority should have discussed the proposal with it and sought an exemption from the recruitment moratorium. The Authority said a shortage of reserve testers had forced it to cancel customer appointments and that the moratorium prevented it from hiring additional direct employees. The Court recommended pro-rata pay at the rate negotiated for permanent driving testers and priority, where practicable, for applications from existing staff working reduced hours.