Labour Court rejects security staff union’s shift allowance claim

The Labour Court did not recommend that Dublin City University concede the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union’s claim for a higher shift allowance for security staff. The recommendation was signed on 6 July 2015. The union sought a 20% allowance excluding an on-call component, along with paid meal breaks and an on-call allowance for work through breaks. Management said the existing 20% allowance included a 5% on-call element. The Court said meal-break matters were outside the references before it. The Court said the shift arrangement and rate had been established since 2001 and found the 10% difference between the SSO II and SSO III rates appropriate given their different attendance patterns. It said increasing the SSO II rate would affect the adequacy of the SSO III rate.