S.I. No. 229/2023 - Registered Employment Agreement (Overhead Powerline Contractors Group) Order 2023

1. The Council is established to promote harmonious relations between Companies engaged in Overhead Powerline Contractors Industry and the workers employed by them for the carrying out of their business.

2. Membership of the Council is open to employees engaged in overhead power line work, Connect Trade Union officials and Overhead Powerline Contractors.

3. The Council shall consist of eight members, a Chairperson and Official Secretary. The Chairperson and Official Secretary shall be appointed by the Labour Court at the request of the Council members.

4. Four members shall be appointed by the Overhead Powerline Contractors Group and four members by Connect Trade Union.

5. Side Secretaries, who shall be one of the members referred to in clause 4 above, shall be appointed by the employer representatives for the employer side and the employee representatives for the employee side. The Chairperson shall be notified of the name of the Side Secretaries appointed. A Side Secretary will hold their position at the discretion of the nominating body or until his/her resignation from the position.

6. If by reason of illness or other sufficient cause any member is unable to be present at a meeting of the Council the employers’ or the workers’ side as the case may be, shall nominate a deputy to attend the meeting and exercise all the functions conferred on the member by the constitution. The names of representatives appointed by the Employers and Connect Trade Union shall be notified to the Official Secretary of the Council.

7. The members shall hold office for so long as the nominating bodies shall think fit. Should any vacancy occur by resignation or otherwise, the vacancy shall be filled by the appointment to the Council of another member by the body which appointed the retired member.

8. Meetings of the Council shall be held as thought fit by the constituent bodies.

9. It will be the duty of the Official Secretary, in consultation with the Chairperson and Side Secretaries, to summon meetings of the Council, to prepare the agenda of the meetings, which shall be circulated not less than 7 days before the meeting, to keep minutes of proceedings and generally to carry out the instructions of the Council and Chairperson in all matters relating to the proper working of the Council and the promotion of its objects.

10. The duties of a Side Secretary shall be to summon separate meetings of his/her side for the consideration of any matters to be brought before the Council. When a meeting of the Council is desired by either side the Secretary of that side shall notify the Official Secretary of the Council and shall forward details of the business which that side desires to be put on the agenda of the meeting and the said meeting shall be called within fourteen days of receipt of request.

11. A quorum shall consist of a Chairperson and at least two on each side of the Council.

12. In pursuance of its objectives, the Council shall be the negotiating body in respect of wages and conditions of employment for all categories of staff covered by the Collective Agreement for the Overhead Powerline Contracting Industry.

13. In the event of a dispute arising between all or any of the members of the union represented on the Council and all or any of the individual firms represented on the Council by the employer organisation, the matters in dispute if not settled between the firm and the union locally may be referred to the Council. If the Council is unable to resolve the issue in dispute, the matter shall be referred to Arbitration or to the Labour Court and no strike, lock-out or interference with normal working operations shall take place before the Arbitrator has issued his findings or the Court has made a recommendation.

14. The Council shall have the power to appoint a sub-committee to deal with any particular matter and such sub-committee shall report to the parent body.

15. The Council shall have power to alter this constitution by consent of the two sides of the Council but only at a special meeting summoned for the purpose and as a general rule, amendments may only be made once every three years.

APPENDIX 2

This two phase, 24 month duration comprehensive training program will continue to be discussed and negotiated between Connect Trade Union and the Overhead Powerline Contractors Group.

Upon agreement, the complete training module contents will form part of this National Collective Agreement signed 1st November 2021

Until this comprehensive training program content is agreed by both parties, the established training programs provided by each individual company will remain in place.

GIVEN under my hand,

11 May 2023

NEALE RICHMOND,

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(

This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purpose to be a legal interpretation.

)

The purpose of this Order is to set out the agreed terms and conditions from 1st November 2021 to apply to the workers specified who are engaged by an Overhead Powerline Contractor.

16. BEREAVEMENT LEAVE

A maximum of 3 days’ paid leave will be allowed in the case of bereavement of close relatives. The employer will be notified as soon as possible of the bereavement. The term close relative means, spouse, parent, child, brother or sister.

17. WAGE REVIEW

This agreement will be reviewed on 1st October 2022 and on an agreed basis thereafter.

18. NOTICE

(a) Notice shall be in accordance with the

Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973

except in the case of gross misconduct

(b) In the case of dismissals, it is recognised that in the circumstances of the industry, it is the prerogative of management to take a decision in any particular case. This however, does not affect the right an individual or a trade union to invoke the agreed disputes procedure in any particular case.

19. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

Each worker shall be entitled to request from his or her employer on termination of his or her employment, a certificate of service showing the period of such employment, in each particular grade/position in which he or she may have been employed.

20. TERMINATION OF AGREEMENT

Either party will have the right to terminate the contract by giving written notice to the other party at least 6 months before the end of the initial period of the contract or at least 3 months at any point after the end of the initial period.

21. COMPLIANCE & ENFORCEMENT

(a) The Overhead Powerline Contractors (OPC’s), Connect Trade Union and the client companies are all equally affected by the implementation of this agreement in each and every contract now and in the future.

(b) The parties covered by this agreement are fully committed to its terms and will act at all times to preserve its integrity.

(c) To this end a client company must employ the services of an Audit Services Company (agreed at the NJIC) at least once a year to conduct an audit or investigation into any contractor engaged by them relating to the Terms and Conditions of Employment within an Overhead Powerline Contractor business that is carrying out works on behalf of that client company.

(d) All Overhead Powerline Contractors and their employee/members of the union will co-operate fully with any such audit or investigation.

(e) Information gathered by an Audit Services Company for the purpose of compliance with this agreement may be made available to the NJIC with a view to rectifying any breach of the Agreement.

(f) Notwithstanding clause (e) above union delegates with written authority from the union shall be entitled to visit jobs and places of work during working hours for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this agreement.

22. EQUAL TREATMENT

(a) The Union agrees to maintain the terms of this agreement and the obligations and benefits attaching thereto with all other Employer Groups of Individual Employers doing similar work.

(b) The employers on their part agree that they will not make any agreement altering the terms of this agreement with any other Union, Association or Individual engaged in similar work

23. TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

Date of Agreement: While it is the intention to register this agreement with the Labour Court, and all parties are committed to bringing this about as soon as may be, the implementation date of this agreement is agreed between the parties to the agreement as of 1st November 2021

Signed:ON BEHALF OF THE OPCGON BEHALF OF CONNECT

Manus O’Connor Darren Erangey

KN Circet Connect Trade Union

Bernard Downey Brian Nolan

EUP Connect Trade Union

Joe Rogers

TLI Group

Joao Felizardo

Gaeltec Utilities Ltd

DATE: 1st November 2021

Appendix 1

Joint Industrial Council for Overhead Powerline Contractors Industry

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of

16

th May,

2023.

WHEREAS I, NEALE RICHMOND, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by subsection (5A) (inserted by

section 5

(d) of the

Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012

(No. 32 of 2012)) of

section 27

of the

Industrial Relations Act 1946

(No. 26 of 1946), being satisfied that subsections (1) to (5) of the said

section 27

have been complied with and considering it appropriate to do so, hereby make the following order