Mandate has served an equality claim on behalf of 50,000 part-time shopworkers employed in the Republic's retail sector. This could result in significantly higher pay costs and possible higher prices for consumers. The union wants part-time staff in shops and supermarkets to receive incremental pay increases for every calendar year they work. At present a part-time shopworker who, for example, works 20 hours a week must work two years to win a pay increment paid to fulltime employees after one year.
Mandate decided to present the claim after two job-sharers in the Civil Service won a landmark decision in the European Court of Justice last month. The court found that job-sharers in the Civil Service should receive increments on the same basis as full-time civil servants. It stated that denial of the increment represented a form of indirect discrimination, because the majority of job-sharers in the Civil Service were women.
The judgment is expected to cost the exchequer an extra £2 million a year in wages, plus as much as £20 million in back pay. The costs in the private sector could be even higher. The test case in the Civil Service was taken by the Civil and Public Service Union. Mandate has discussed the findings of the European Court in detail with the CPSU, before presenting its claim to the Republic's main retail multiple stores on Monday.
In a letter to each store Mandate's national industrial officer, Mr John Douglas, told companies that, if they failed to respond promptly, the union would seek redress in the courts.
Yesterday a spokeswoman for Tesco Ireland confirmed the company had received a letter from Mandate. "We are interested in contacting the union to set up a meeting and better understand the nature of their claim," she said. Mr Ultan Courtney of IBEC also confirmed the claim had come in, but he pointed out that the circumstances would vary from company to company. "It is not so much a claim as an issue that has to be addressed." He declined to put any figure on the possible costs.
The retail multiple most dependant on part-time staff is Dunnes Stores, although these now comprise less than 80 per cent of employees now, compared with over 90 per cent three years ago. Dunnes Stores has also received the Mandate letter and is expected to meet the union in the near future.
Mr Douglas said that he looked forward to meeting employers. In the past the standard rule of basing incremental pay rises on hours worked, as opposed to calendar time had restricted part-time female workers from moving up the pay scale.
Rates of pay for part-time sales assistants vary from £2.50 an hour to £6.25, and it can take up to 12 years to reach the top of the scale. Mandate represents about 35,000 people in the sector, but Mr Douglas said it would be seeking the increase on behalf of all staff.