A sharp increase in complaints about breaches of employment agreements in the construction industry was recorded by the Labour Court last year.
In its annual report, published yesterday, the court said there had been an overall increase of 21 per cent in the number of referrals last year.
These had resulted mainly from a significant rise in complaints from both unions and employers in the construction sector, alleging breaches of registered employment agreements (REAs). These are legally-binding agreements on pay and conditions negotiated by unions and employers in certain sectors.
In his foreword to the report, court chairman Kevin Duffy said there had been a 75 per cent increase last year in the number of complaints alleging non-compliance with REAs for the construction industry on pension, assurance and sick pay.
He said the complaints had arisen from increased monitoring of the sector by both union and employer bodies.
Last year had been a "challenging" one for the court, he said, with 1,484 cases having been referred to it - nearly double the court's caseload in 2000. Industrial relations cases continue to dominate, and accounted for almost 90 per cent of the cases referred.
