DUBLIN CITY Council cannot seek further savings from fire brigade staff this year on top of cuts of €3.5 million agreed early in the summer to deal with a budget deficit, the Labour Court has ruled.
The court said Dublin Fire Brigade management cannot renegotiate cost-savings reached in June.
Management had wanted further cost-savings to address a €1.7 million budget overrun.
The court recommended that talks on savings to be secured for 2012 should commence as soon as practicable, and that both parties “should be free to raise any issue which they consider appropriate and relevant in the circumstances then prevailing”.
The court said management and unions at Dublin Fire Brigade had reached a deal under the Croke Park agreement for the achievement of savings in employment-related costs. The letter of acceptance of this deal said it represented the conclusion of negotiations under Croke Park for 2011.
“The council did not demur from this assertion and the unions were then entitled to believe that the question of employment- related cost savings under the public service agreement was finally and comprehensively agreed for the full year. In these circumstances it is clear that the city council are precluded by the terms of the agreement, which it concluded in June 2011, from unilaterally implementing additional employment-related cost-savings in 2011 beyond those provided for in that agreement.”
A spokesman for the council said it was considering the judgment. He could not comment on the potential impact of the ruling on the 2012 budget as agreement on this was the prerogative of city councillors. “The annual budget is a reserved function of the city councillors and we wouldn’t comment in advance on any decision the councillors might make.”
The decision was welcomed by the union Impact. It said it acknowledged the savings already agreed for this year and proved how effective the Croke Park agreement was in solving what might otherwise have been an acrimonious dispute.
Siptu said the membership had demonstrated its commitment to working the agreement by accepting the cuts for 2011.