The Sunday Tribune has been told to pay its staff the terms of Sustaining Progress (phase one) despite the company's insistence that any increases should be deferred.
The Labour Court, in a new recommendation, fails to support the company's argument that pay increases should only be implemented when the paper returns to profitability. If the company now implements the latest Labour Court recommendation, staff could be in line for a 7 per cent increase.
The issue of payments under the terms of Sustaining Progress came before the Labour Court last year. At the original hearing in October the paper said: "The company is not claiming inability to pay, it is requesting that the increases be deferred and the situation reviewed when the paper returns to profitability,"
However, the Dublin print group of unions strongly resisted this argument and said the Sunday Tribune had not been profitable for many years.
In the latest recommendation the court states: "Having regard to all the circumstances of the case, the court recommends that the parties agree arrangements by which the outstanding increases will be paid in full during the currency of Sustaining Progress."
Séamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, who presented the case on behalf of the unions, welcomed the recommendation. He said that, while a sizeable pay increase for staff would be very welcome, the company would simply be playing "catch-up".