THE management of the Pallas Foods distribution centre in Newcastle West have been asked to clarify their plans for the plant after announcing last February that 65 staff will be made redundant with part of the operation moving to Dublin.
Local Sinn Fein councillor Seamus Browne says that since the announcement, 31 staff have been made redundant but he understands that 35 agency staff were hired during the same period.
“I believe that SIPTU have received correspondence from solicitors acting for Pallas Foods in which it is stated that no ‘exceptional collective redundancies have arisen’ at the Newcastle West plant,” he told the Limerick Post.
“This will certainly come as a surprise to those 31 workers who have already lost their jobs”.
According to the public representative for Newcastle West, Pallas Foods confirm in the same letter that they will not deal with SIPTU, despite calls from both the Labour Court and Limerick City and County Council to do so.
“This is an important employer operating in a region that has already lost too many jobs. I understand that workers at the plant are now worried about the possibility that their jobs are to be displaced in favour of cheaper agency labour.
“It is absolutely essential that the company give concrete reassurances to the remaining workers at the plant. I also reiterate the call for Pallas Foods to engage with SIPTU in order to explore all avenues for the retention of the maximum number of permanent jobs at the plant,” Cllr Browne concluded.
