Labour Court declines to recommend €17.50 daily payment for Airlink drivers

The Labour Court declined to recommend an extra €17.50 daily payment for about 50 Dublin Airlink drivers. In a recommendation dated 30 June 2017, it said a 2016 agreement precluded it from making a recommendation on the unions' claim. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union and the National Bus & Rail Union said the drivers' additional duties included handling cash, managing several ticketing systems, customer interaction, longer rosters and full service on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Dublin Bus, represented by the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation, argued that an agreement with the unions barred further cost-increasing claims during its term. The agreement ran retrospectively from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2018. The Court recommended that the parties engage if they wished to vary it.