Labour Court recommends new recruitment and engagement arrangements for Sea Fisheries Protection Authority

The Labour Court recommended that the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and approximately 80 workers represented by Forsa use competitive recruitment for head-office and other office-based posts, and establish regular meetings to improve workplace relations. The recommendation was signed on 25 March 2022. The joint dispute covered the lateral transfer agreement, recruitment of non-rostered Sea Fisheries Protection Officers and Senior Port Officers, implementation of change and the parties’ wider relationship. The Court said the 2006 transfer agreement did not provide for moving officers into office-based roles and found no basis to recommend the union’s claim on that point. It recommended that appointments to those roles be made through internal or public competition, and that the parties accept the employer’s proposed pay scales for non-rostered posts as reasonable. The Court also recommended six-weekly engagement, with IBEC and Forsa representatives attending during the first six months, alongside local dispute handling and a review after one year.