Labour Court calls for financial review before Kostal pay talks resume

The Labour Court recommended that Kostal Ireland and the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union appoint an independent financial expert before resuming talks on workers’ pay and other claims. The recommendation was signed on 21 December 2021. The union sought a pay increase and six other improvements covering pension contributions, bonuses, service awards, maternity and paternity pay and a solidarity payment. Kostal said it could not add business costs and that its Irish operations had been loss-making since 2019. The Court said the parties had irreconcilable views of the business’s finances, despite a union expert having confidential access to the information. It recommended that an independent expert assess the business’s capacity to absorb the union’s claims while protecting commercial confidentiality. After establishing a shared understanding, the parties should resume engagement at the Workplace Relations Commission and refer unresolved matters back to the Court.