{"id":380587,"date":"2026-04-03T21:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/380587\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T21:29:08","slug":"waterford-builders-providers-told-to-pay-its-staff-e48000-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/380587\/","title":{"rendered":"Waterford builders\u2019 providers told to pay its staff \u20ac48,000 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Labour Court<\/a> has recommended that a Waterford city builders\u2019 providers and DIY retailer pay its 80 staff a cumulative \u20ac48,000 as \u201ca gesture of goodwill\u201d in return for using a new in-store two-way radio communication system.<\/p>\n

At the Labour Court, deputy chairwoman Katie Connolly has recommended that Morris (Builders Providers) Ltd, located on the Cork Rd, Waterford<\/a> city, give its 80 retail staff a once-off tax-free voucher of \u20ac600 and the parties should now engage in relation to the implementation and operation of the two-way radio system with immediate effect.<\/p>\n

The Labour Court decision records that in October 2023, the company sought to introduce the two-way radio communication system within the store and proposed that staff who voluntarily opted in to using the system would receive a tax-free voucher to the value of \u20ac250 \u2013 or \u20ac500 for those with more than 10 years\u2019 service.<\/p>\n

However, the move faced opposition, with the Unite<\/a> union arguing before the Labour Court that the proposed introduction of the two-way radio system \u201crepresents a unilateral change to established work practices and is inconsistent with the company\u2019s initial proposal that participation would be on a voluntary basis only\u201d. <\/p>\n

Unite said that it did not object to the adoption of the 2-way radio system, however, the mandate from Union members is that any co-operation is on a voluntary basis.<\/p>\n

The union said that its members \u201chave raised significant health and safety concerns about the universal introduction of the new system and sought assurances that a review and appropriate risk assessments would be carried out\u201d.<\/p>\n

It went on to say that \u201cmembers are willing to consider participation if it is supported by appropriate safeguards and compensation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Unite was seeking that the court make a recommendation providing for payment of a once-off tax-free voucher to the value of \u20ac500 to be paid in 2025 and in 2026, with two additional days of annual leave to be granted on a once-off basis in 2025 and 2026. <\/p>\n

At the Labour Court, the firm said that it has an agreement in place with Unite, which allows it to introduce new technology. <\/p>\n

The firm said that the company has taken several actions to address concerns raised. <\/p>\n

It said that a health and safety consultant was engaged to develop a policy on the use of two-way radios, including how to use them when driving a forklift and operating machinery. <\/p>\n

The firm said that Unite has agreed in principle to the reintroduction of two-way radios \u2013 albeit for a significant and unjustified cost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Labour Court has recommended that a Waterford city builders\u2019 providers and DIY retailer pay its 80 staff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,42042,73429,6513],"class_list":{"0":"post-380587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-labour-court","12":"tag-unite","13":"tag-waterford"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}