Employees at Bord Na Mona have voted for strike action next week following rejection of an offer of a 1.7% pay increase and a once off payment of €1,000 with a possibility of a second potential increase. Workers at the site have rejected the offer, which was backed by their union (FORSA), on the basis that the deal is less than that which was supposed to be honored as part of a transitional agreement, which would have netted the employees a 6% increase.
The grounds on which workers have rejected this is that the pay increase is not pensionable (whereas the 6% increase would have been) and also there is an element of Performance Related Pay which they do not trust. From an employers perspective it is vital to ensure that any performance related payment plan is clearly communicated to employees from a point of view of what the Company is trying to achieve and also what the employees can gain. A clear rationale for Performance Related Pay is that it will by effect increase performance, however Performance will only increase if firstly there is an incentive for it to increase (i.e monetary gain) and secondly if the employee has the ability to affect their performance. This second point is crucial and a well communicated and developed strategy is necessary to identify if employees are struggling with their performance and assessing what guidance or support an employee needs in order to improve. The idea of any Performance structure is by design to improve the business by improving the performance of each employee, and so it becomes necessary for Companies to actively try to assist employees and only look to disciplinary measures as a last resort. The issue at Bord na Mona becomes more critical as employees have openly rejected a plan for Performance Related Pay on the basis they do not trust this. Management must seriously look at trying to get employee buy-in to any such plan as without this the entire process becomes futile and will not result in the performance increases hoped for. On the matter of strike action the employees are looking to engage in this industrial action in order to demonstrate that they are not satisfied with the current scenario. Many will view this a different way, by seeing employees being offered a pay increase and rejecting this, which in these trying economic times can be difficult to fathom. The employees are within their rights to strike as under the Industrial Relations Act, 1990, and although this time may not be reckonable for a host of statutory provisions such as annual leave accrual, the employees feel that this is their final resort to achieve their aims. I fear the goodwill of many may well have been exhausted and the workers may not be welcomed with the hero like status afforded to the Vita Cortex workers, but Management must be prepared that the strike will only be for one day and this issue will be resolved in time, and when it is the matter of performance related pay will once again need to be addressed. The buy in of the employees is crucial to its success and if management are to try to build a successful program the scheme must encourage the right sort of performance and ensure that employees are motivated and have the ability to perform to a standard that will be satisfactory for all parties.
