Ahern rounds on Greencore for not honouring court recommendations

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern yesterday criticised food conglomerate Greencore for refusing to honour Labour Court recommendations, saying the €4.4 million owed to workers should be paid “forthwith”.

And trade unionists reacted angrily to the pay-off impasse yesterday after Greencore’s €1.1 billion development plan for Carlow town.

Speaking in the Dáil, Mr Ahern said Greencore had done very well out of the European Union in relation to the restructuring package of the sugar plants in Carlow and Mallow.

“The State has always honoured Labour Court decisions,” said the Taoiseach. “I expect any company, particularly large companies, to accept it.

He added: “It’s a small price for them to pay the staff.”

He was responding to Labour leader Pat Rabbitte who pointed out that Greencore had refused to implement the Labour Court recommendations three times. He said that workers had, on average, being left €25,000 short as a result of that refusal.

Pointing out that the overall package was worth only €4.4m, he argued that it was a pittance in comparison with the €1.1bn plans for redeveloping the sugar plant.

SIPTU national industrial secretary Gerry McCormack reacted angrily to Greencore’s €1.1bn development plan for Carlow.

“It was a kick in the teeth to workers,” he said.

He accused the company of attempting to use the €146m compensation package from the EU to fund its ambitions plans for Carlow.

At the same time workers are waiting to be paid their proper redundancy entitlements, he said.

“Greencore workers are still owed €4.4m as part of a redundancy package for ending sugar production, and management have refused to pay up, despite a recommendation and three clarifications from the Labour Court,” he said.

Initially the group accepted the court’s recommendation that compensation for 150 workers at its Mallow plant should be at a higher level than terms agreed at Carlow.

That recommendation had a very positive impact on the entitlements of the workers involved and amounted to them getting €4.4m extra as part of their negotiated settlement.

However, Mr McCormack said the group was now hiding behind an earlier agreement used to close the Carlow plant as grounds for not paying the higher monetary compensation to the workers.

SIPTU had no objection to the planned development at Carlow, he said.

“But management is failing to deal to deal with the people who built up the sugar plant in the first instance.”

Sinn Féin’s spokesman on agriculture Martin Ferris also called on the company to “honour its original commitment” on the redundancy package to the Mallow workers.

And the company had further disappointing news for the town yesterday.

Greencore’s development director, Geoff Doherty, said plans for the group’s 380-acre site at the former Mallow sugar plant were unlikely to match those just announced for Carlow.

“It would be wrong to expect them to be as ambitious at this stage,” he said.

However, he said the plans “are going to be substantial and we won’t disappoint the town of Mallow”.