Labour Court Publishes its Annual Report for 2007 – April '08

The Labour Court published its Annual Report for 2007 on 16th April 2008. The Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr. Billy Kelleher launched the Report and commended the Labour Court on the key role it plays in contributing to a stable industrial relations climate in Ireland. The Minister highlighted the fact that fewer days were lost due to industrial disputes than in any other year since such statistics were first compiled in the 1920s.

The Annual Report provides an overview of the Cases Referred and Cases Completed by the Labour Court in 2007. It also includes a synopsis of some of the individual determinations made by the Court in 2007.

78% of cases referred to the Labour Court in 2007 were under the Industrial Relations Acts, 1990-2004. The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 accounted for 10% of the referrals. The remaining 12% of cases were referred under the:

There has been an overall decrease in the number of cases referred to the Labour Court, with a reduction of 32% on 2006 referrals. The main reason for this decrease is the sharp drop in the number of cases referred by Trade Unions regarding alleged breaches of a Registered Employment Agreement (REA).

In recent years, the Labour Court has highlighted a surge in REA referrals. The decrease in REA referrals in 2007 is influenced by new procedures introduced by the Court for processing complaints which require greater efforts to resolve the dispute with the employer directly, before making a referral. Furthermore, in the case of REAs specifically, once the issue has been resolved, the case tends not to come back to the Labour Court.

The number of days lost due to industrial relations disputes continues to decrease. 6,038 days were lost in 2007, as against 26,665 days in 2005.

The Annual Report is available on the Labour Court website (www.labourcourt.ie).