The Labour Relations Commission dealt with a record number of referrals to its services in 1999, and demand is at a similar level this year, its chief executive, Mr Kieran Mulvey, said at the presentation of its annual report.
The chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Finbarr Flood, reported a five-year high in referrals of disputes. There was also an increase in unofficial stoppages and public-sector pay pressure. Figures produced in the LRC's annual report suggested that the pressure reflected rising expectations in a booming economy.
This applied particularly to the growing disparity between unit wage costs and productivity in some sectors, the report said.
In the manufacturing sector, for instance, unit wage costs in 1999 were only 58.4 per cent of what they were in 1985, before the current round of national agreements began. However, output per person in 1999 was 297 per cent of the 1985 figure.
There was an increase of 23 per cent in disputes referred to the LRC for conciliation, with 1,923 referrals compared with just over 1,500 in 1998, but the settlement rate rose from 82 per cent in 1998 to 84 per cent last year.
There was a 40 per cent increase in requests for the use of the commission's advisory service to improve workplace relationships and a 33 per cent increase in applications for investigations by rights commissioners.
The increase in cases brought by individuals and small groups of workers to rights commissioners reflects the increasing amount of legislation governing employees' rights, up from three Acts in 1991 to 11 this year, including the national minimum wage.
The court dealt with 702 industrial relations cases last year, compared with 618 in 1998, 76 equality cases, compared with 62 in 1998, and 47 working time cases, compared with 21 in 1998.