Labour Court recommends forum on development staff’s jobs and terms

The Labour Court recommended a forum to address employment and terms-of-work concerns raised by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union and the Irish Municipal, Public and Civil Trade Union over proposed changes to local development programmes. The recommendation was signed on 4 December 2014. Irish Local Development Network was the employer party. The Court said the issues were real and substantial, but the employers cited could not address them because responsibility rested with funding and policy bodies outside the dispute. It recommended involving the unions and employer representatives, while seeking participation from those decision-makers.