Labour Court recommends revised on-call arrangement for Galway County Council and union

The Labour Court recommended that Galway County Council and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union operate the revised emergency on-call arrangement across the Loughrea and Portumna area. Staff who volunteer for the rota would handle call-outs across the entire revised area. The recommendation was signed on 22 May 2017. The union said the roster lacked enough staff to cover simultaneous call-outs and raised the absence of a health and safety risk assessment. The Council said recruitment had provided sufficient staff for the Loughrea Municipal District. The Court noted that staffing numbers on the rota had increased in 2017, participation was voluntary, and the central disagreement concerned the size of the revised area.