Issue of who speaks for employees at heart of long-running pay dispute

Case study - Ashford Castle Hotel:One of the most high-profile "union recognition" disputes in recent years took place at the five-star Ashford Castle Hotel in Cong, Co Mayo.

An attempt by the hotel to overturn a binding Labour Court determination sanctioning higher pay rates for 150 workers was dismissed by the High Court a year ago.

But the parties are heading back to the Labour Court shortly, with Siptu, which represents the staff concerned, claiming employees are still not being paid the rates upheld by the court.

The dispute began in 2001 as one about rates of pay but became fundamentally about the right to union representation.

Trade unions had successfully pursued some small employers through the Labour Court under the terms of industrial relations legislation introduced in 2004.

The legislation allowed unions to represent workers indirectly in non-union companies by bringing cases on their behalf to the Labour Court.

But the Ashford Castle dispute became something of a cause celebre - party because of the number of employees involved and also because of the brand recognition associated with such a prestigious hotel.

It was a dispute both Siptu and the Irish Hotels Federation, which backed Ashford Castle management, were determined to win.

The hotel's manager, Niall Rochford, says it felt it could work with the staff internally "and didn't see the relevance of a union coming in and dictating to us".

He says there were never more than about 50 Siptu members on the staff, although the union maintains 90 per cent of employees had joined it within a short period.

Mr Rochford set up a staff forum to try to work out the anomalies. "We were having some success," he says, "but then Siptu members balloted for industrial action."

Siptu described the staff forum as a "talking shop".

The fact that the Labour Court agreed to investigate the dispute is significant, given the stipulation in the 2004 legislation that the Labour Court could consider a dispute only if it was satisfied that "it is not the practice of the employer to engage in collective bargaining".

In 2005, the court ordered management to increase pay rates by an average of 15 to 20 per cent, a decision upheld by the High Court last June. Siptu national organiser Noel Dowling said the outcome sent a "clear message" to workers whose employers refused them the right to union representation.