Labour Court recommends staged pay rises for Donegal Meats workers

The Labour Court recommended pay rises for Donegal Meats workers of 1.5% from 2014, 1.5% from 2015, 2% from 2016 and 2% from 2017. It did not concede the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union's separate claim for downtime payments, but recommended that information sharing continue to reduce downtime. The recommendation was dated 15 April 2016. The union sought a pay increase and payment for non-productive time in the Boning Hall, saying workers had no control over downtime caused by specification changes. Donegal Meats argued that higher labour costs could harm its competitiveness and future employment, and said changeovers were necessary for food safety. The Court noted that downtime had been reduced by coordinating changeovers with breaks and adopting 6 Sigma methods. It recommended the staged pay increases and continued information sharing with workers about reducing downtime.