The Labour Court has awarded a supervisor of a Tesco supermarket play area a 7.5 per cent pay increase and £20 a week backdated to March 1995. The arrears will be worth more than £10,000. Ms Louise O'Toole, who sought the same pay as other supervisory grades, works part-time in a Tesco store in Lucan, Co Dublin. IBEC had argued for Tesco that her work was "similar to babysitting and requires little skill".
Mandate official Mr Brendan Archbold said: "Caring for children . . . is regarded as having little or no value. Louise's job, in the words of Tesco management, required `a low level of mental effort' and `no significant physical effort'."