SIPTU members employed in the National Symphony Orchestra have referred issues related to health and safety concerns to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) following a failure of management to engage with union representatives on the matter. SIPTU Sector Organiser, Michelle Quinn, said: “For many months we have tried to engage without success with local management of the National Concert Hall to resolve serious issues in relation to the difficult working environment our members have experienced over an extended period of time. “Our members have now lost confidence that the matters are capable of resolution at local level. We have today advised management of that lack of confidence. The National Concert Hall has already been made aware repeatedly of the psychosocial risk factors that our members believe already exist due to the organisation’s continued failure to take corrective action. “We now call upon the executive management team and the Board of Management of the National Concert Hall to redouble its efforts to fulfil its obligations under Section 8 of the 2005 Safety Health Welfare at Work Act which compels employers to ensure, ‘so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees’. “These bodies should also be mindful of Section 80 of the Act which makes clear that managers will be held accountable for any breaches of workplace rights committed due to neglecting to intervene to prevent them taking place.” She added: “While we remain willing and anxious to engage with management to resolve the issues clearly impacting our members’ working environment, in the interim the matters are being referred to the WRC.”
SIPTU members in National Symphony Orchestra refer workplace issues to WRC
