Official figures show a sharp increase in the number of days lost to industrial disputes in the first three months of this year.
The Central Statistics Office said 11,327 days were lost in the period, compared with 1,477 a year earlier. These involved only three disputes, however, and the main factor was a one-day strike by civil servants over the pension levy in February.
More rights cases for Labour Court
The number of cases referred to the Labour Court increased by 28% last year, according to the court's annual report published today.
It said the increase in referrals was mainly due to a rise in the number of complaints alleging breaches of Registered Employment Agreements.
In recent years, the profile of the Labour Court's caseload has been shifting from resolving industrial relations disputes to dealing with complaints of breaches of employment rights, which now account for a quarter of the cases referred to the Court.
According to the chairman of the Labour Court, Kevin Duffy, cases alleging breaches of employment agreements have mainly been brought by workers in the construction and electrical industries.
Disputes relating to issues including annual leave entitlements, sick pay and rest periods more than doubled year on year, while referrals under equality legislation fell by 26%.
Overall, the Court received 1,179 referrals in 2008, compared with 924 the previous year - an increase of 28%. It completed 740 cases last year, compared with 649 in 2007.
Chairman Kevin Duffy said that, while not included in the annual report, most of the cases referred to the Labour Court so far this year have dealt with redundancies and the restructuring of companies in financial difficulty.
