Gordon Deegan
250 workers at the maker of Jameson whiskey are set to receive an annual cash payment of €4,700 to compensate for any potential losses over changes to a company profit share scheme.
This follows a Labour Court recommendation endorsing the proposal by Irish Distillers Ltd to make the €4,700 cash payment to 250 workers at various grades as part of a dispute resolution between Irish Distillers and Connect trade union over the profit share, reward, and benefits scheme.
In the recommendation, Labour Court deputy chairwoman, Louise O’Donnell rejected a submission from Connect that the €4,700 be made available to new employees along with existing workers.
Ms O’Donnell stated that the €4,700 is to compensate existing staff for any potential losses that might arise from the change to the Profit Share Scheme “and therefore there is no basis for extending it to new employees who commence work after the date of this recommendation”.
Irish Distillers was not agreeable to also making the cash payment to new staff and told the Labour Court that what was on offer was a good proposal for all staff.
Irish Distillers is the producer of some of the world’s most well-known and successful Irish whiskeys including the world’s best-selling Irish whiskey, Jameson.
As part of their claim, Connect was also seeking an increase in the “Upside Element” in the profit-sharing scheme.
The core profit share element is to be based on the existing profit share formula with a maximum payment of €8,000 to each worker.
At the Labour Court hearing, Irish Distillers submitted that they were prepared to increase the upside value of the profit sharing scheme from €150 to €175 for each 1 percent achievement in global net sales on condition that the upside payment would be applied to a maximum of 3pc of overachievement in any one year.
Connect told the Labour Court hearing that this fell short of their expectations and that in the company’s original proposal in November 2022 had a monetary value of €300 per one percent of global net sales albeit some of the other elements of the package were also different.
However, the Irish Distillers proposal to increase the upside element to €175 each was also endorsed by Ms O’Donnell as part of the Labour Court recommendation.
The Labour Court recommendation also includes an annual health benefit allowance of €1,300 as agreed by a working group and on holiday benefits, the minimum holiday entitlement to increase by three days from the date of joining, and 27 days of holidays once 10 years’ service has been achieved as agreed by the working group.
The deal also includes Christmas Eve as an additional company-paid holiday as agreed by the working group.
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