Trade unions have warned that there could be a weakening of the Labour Court and an increase in industrial disputes over the Government's failure to reappoint a Deputy Chairman of the court.
On Monday, the Labour Court told lawyers it is facing a "severe impact" on its operations after the Department of Public Expenditure "blocked" the reappointment of a senior official, leaving it running at one-third capacity.
"The Labour Court received communication last week indicating that the Department of Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, have blocked the renewal of a serving deputy chair's warrant," the court said in a statement to legal professionals.
"This will have a severe impact on the functioning of the Court and result in serious delays to its hearing of individual employment rights cases [and] its industrial relations role as an independent tribunal that investigates disputes," the statement continued.
It is understood the senior official involved is Alan Haugh, a barrister who has served as one of the court’s deputy chairs since 2015, and whose official warrant is due to expire at the end of this week.
SIPTU has written to the Government calling for an urgent intervention to ensure the reappointment of the deputy chair and warning that failure to do so will seriously diminish that body’s effectiveness and will likely lead to a greater number of industrial disputes.
"As the largest trade union in the country we are the greatest user of the Labour Court’s services," said SIPTU Deputy General Secretary John King.
"Today, we have felt it necessary to write to the Government warning it that its failure to reappoint a key position in the Labour Court is a major blow to the effectiveness of the State’s industrial relations mechanisms and will inevitably lead to more workplace disputes, in both the private and public sectors, in the short and medium term," Mr King said.
The Connect Trade Union warned that the issue will result in many more workers resorting to industrial action to resolve disputes rather than waiting months for a meeting of the Labour Court.
"The Government decision to block the renewal of a deputy chairman of the Labour Court will result in a further degradation in its ability to conduct hearings on industrial disputes between employers and workers," said Connect General Secretary Paddy Kavanagh.
Business group Ibec called on the Government to urgently address the resourcing issues.
"With no legal impediment to the reissuing of the warrant for a Deputy Chair of the Labour Court, the interests of good industrial relations should take precedence in order to avoid the inevitable backlog of cases that will arise due to a lack of planning by the relevant Departments," said Ibec Executive Director of Employer Relations Maeve McElwee.
The Department of Enterprise said it is not in a position to comment on individual employment matters.
A Department of Public Expenditure spokesperson said it is a matter for the Department of Enterprise.
