Sustaining Progress - Department of Taoiseach

Part 2 Sustaining Progress
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(iii) Should a dispute arise out of a claim by an employer that it is not possible to pay the terms of
the Agreement in full and/or that some cost offsetting measures are necessary to do so, the
parties will proceed as in paragraph (ii) above except that the Court will issue its recommendation
to the parties under Section 26(1) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990. Where a decision is taken
to reject the Labour Court recommendation, a three week cooling off period will apply during
which every effort shall be made by the parties to resolve the issues. No strike or other forms of
industrial action will be threatened, sanctioned or taken by trade unions or employees during the
cooling off period and until appropriate ballots have taken place and due notice given to the
employers. Reference can be made during such a period to the National Implementation Body.
(iv) Where there is disagreement as to what constitutes normal ongoing change, after local
discussion, the matter will be referred to the LRC and, if unresolved, it shall jointly be referred
to the Labour Court for adjudication under Section 20(2) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1969,
and the parties will accept the outcome.
1.11 The National Implementation Body, representing Government, IBEC/CIF and ICTU, will meet monthly
or otherwise as may be agreed, to ensure delivery of the stability and peace provisions of the
Agreement. Where particular difficulties arise or are anticipated, the NIB may be convened at short
notice. Where particular problems emerge, the NIB may make recommendations to the social
partners by way of further procedural changes necessary to ensure the effective delivery
of the spirit and intent of the Agreement.
1.12 The parties, their officials and members accept as essential, adherence to the spirit and intent of the
Agreement and will communicate these commitments, obligations and responsibilities in good faith.
1.13 The Government undertakes to adequately resource the Labour Relations Commission and Labour
Court so as to enable them to meet the commitments arising under this Agreement through
processing claims in a timely manner and effectively utilising the assessment facility provided for at
paragraph 1.10. The timeliness with which claims under this section of the Agreement are processed
will be reviewed, including organisational arrangements, on an ongoing basis and will involve
consultation with the parties.
Section 2: Statutory Minimum Pay
2.1 It is agreed to put to Government a position accepted by both ICTU and IBEC that the National
Minimum Wage be adjusted to €7 per hour with effect from 1 February, 2004.
2.2 The parties agree that no repercussive claims related to or following on from the application of
the National Minimum Wage will be made by trade unions or employees.
Section 3: Redundancy Payments
3.1 The Redundancy Payments Acts will be amended to implement the recommendations that have been
agreed in the Report of the Redundancy Review Group. In the context of this Agreement, it is agreed
by the Government that it will enhance statutory redundancy terms to provide for 2 weeks pay per
year of service, with the abolition of differentiation by age and to retain the bonus week in the
calculation of payments. The rebate of 60% of the statutory redundancy payment from the Social
Insurance Fund will apply to this revised level of statutory payment.