by Alan Jacques
A MOTION calling on the management of Pallas Foods to engage with SIPTU to ensure the retention of the maximum number of jobs at their Newcastle West headquarters has been passed by Limerick City and County Council, despite opposition from Fine Gael councillors.
The motion proposed by local Sinn Féin councillor Seamus Browne, who said that Pallas Foods was an important employer in West Limerick, a region which has already suffered a catalogue of blows with jobs losses at Castlemahon Foods, Kantoher, Kostal and Ballygowan.
“Hundreds of jobs have disappeared, dealing economic body blows directly to those families involved, and also indirectly to local business and retailers in the area through lost revenues,” he commented.
“Now we have one of the last remaining large employers deciding to transfer 65 jobs to Dublin, and it has to be said that the circumstances around these job losses are quite disturbing. I want this council to send a clear message to the management of Pallas Foods that it is not acceptable in this day and age to refuse to engage with the union of the workers choice in order to explore options to retain these jobs.”
Cllr Browne also revealed that the only options put to Pallas Foods employees in a six page document, was either voluntary or compulsory redundancy, or redeployment to Dublin.
“This document did not address, in any way, alternatives to redundancies or redeployment. The Protection of Employment Act 1977, Part 2 section 9, clearly identifies the obligation on employers to consult employees’ representatives in such circumstances, and Irish law does facilitate looking at various options to mitigate job losses,” he said.
He claimed that job losses at Pallas Foods were being implemented without any meaningful engagement with the workers concerned, without any input from their union (SIPTU), and selection for redundancies was being made without any transparency regarding the process.
“Sinn Fein view this as a blatant disregard of the employee’s rights and indeed a total disregard for the potential of retention of employment in the Newcastle West area. At the very least, the company should allow workers the assistance of the professional help supplied by the State,” he concluded.
SIPTU’s Limerick District Council the local authority’s call on the management of Pallas Foods to enter meaningful negotiations over the ongoing redundancies.
SIPTU lead organiser Pat Condon commented, “We are delighted to receive the support of Limerick City and Council for our campaign for the Pallas Food workers. It’s great to see that there is widespread political support for our simple demand that the company engage with our union over these job losses.”
“Our union’s prime concern is to protect the maximum number of jobs possible for our members, and ensure that there is a fair and transparent process regarding the selection for redundancies. It’s hard to believe that this far into the 21st century that there are still employers with 19th century attitude to workers rights,” he added.
