by Alan Jacques
THE management of Pallas Foods have been urged to negotiate directly with SIPTU over the company’s plans to make 65 people redundant at its distribution depot in Newcastle West.
Sinn Fein councillor for Newcastle West, Seamus Browne, told the Limerick Post that he does not believe it is acceptable for management to effectively lock out the union from negotiating on behalf of its members.
He said that a progressive management team would engage with the workers’ trade union —SIPTU in this instance — and “utilise the services of the State’s industrial machinery to come to the best agreement for all parties”.
“The workers at Pallas Foods in Newcastle West have been the backbone of the company’s success for over 30 years now. When the company’s facility was being constructed in Dublin, commitments were given to the local workforce that it would not affect employment in Newcastle West.
“Workers feel let down and refusing to engage with their union is only compounding matters,” Cllr Browne commented.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to the issue of respect. Respect for workers, for their contribution to the company, and their right to be represented by their union SIPTU.
“One hundred years after the Great Lock Out, it’s high time that Pallas Foods recognised that trade unions are a legitimate and necessary part of a modern industrial relations infrastructure,” he said.
