Labour Court sends Element Six union dispute back to conciliation

The Labour Court recommended that Element Six and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union return to conciliation for a full effort to resolve a dispute over shift allowances and bonuses, and banked hours. If agreement cannot be reached, the parties should jointly ask the Labour Relations Commission to refer the outstanding issues to the Court under section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1990. The union had referred the issues under section 20(1) of the Industrial Relations Act 1969, and agreed to be bound by the recommendation. The Court said the complex collective dispute was not suited to that referral route and should go through conciliation before any section 26(1) referral. The recommendation was signed on 21 November 2014.