Labour Court recommends €300 voucher for construction workers

The Labour Court recommended that the Construction Industry Federation not concede Construction Industry Workers’ claims for a 5% pay rise or an industry-wide daily travel-time allowance. It recommended further talks on travel time and a once-off €300 voucher for each worker covered by the current Sectoral Employment Order. The recommendation was signed on 5 March 2018. The workers, represented by ICTU, sought a 5% increase for 2018, one hour’s pay per day for travel, and a lump sum relating to pay rates introduced in October 2017. The Federation said contractors could not afford further labour-cost increases and travel allowances had not generally been paid for several years. The Court said it could not revisit pay rates recently set by the SEO and could not establish the extent or cost of existing travel-time payments. It recommended that the travel-time issue go to the parties’ National Joint Industrial Council for further discussion.