Labour Court to resolve Coca-Cola row

THE three-week long dispute between Coca-Cola and a large section of its distribution staff should start to be resolved today at a hearing of the Labour Court.

The company wants to outsource or make redundant 130 of its distribution and warehousing staff at its sites in Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Tipperary, Galway and Dublin.

However, over recent weeks the members of union SIPTU have been protesting at what they say will be inferior conditions in the outsourced companies and have also insisted rationalisation could offset the need for such a move.

The company insists workers have the choice of accepting a redundancy package and then moving under whatever terms and conditions are being offered by the third party, or allowing themselves to be transferred directly. In the latter case they would have to be given at least the same terms and conditions as they enjoyed with Coca-Cola under Transfer of Undertakings legislation.

Today’s hearing at the Labour Court will be binding on SIPTU under section 20 (1) of the 1969 Industrial Relations Act so the dispute should be resolved within days.

Yesterday, 120 SIPTU workers held a protest outside the head office of Coca-Cola in Baggot Street. They called on the company to use its influence to ensure Coca-Cola HBC Ireland withdraws the dismissal of the strikers pointing out that some of them have up to 40 years’ service.

Meanwhile Industrial Relations News has reported that the National Implementation Body has stepped into the dispute at Green Isle Foods over the dismissal of a number of craft workers.

The company has claimed the dismissals are over the accessing of inappropriate adult material on its IT system. But the craft union TEEU says the material involved was merely pictures of a “page three nature” at worst and that they had been emailed in to the staff.

It is understood the NIB has suggested mediation by a third party outside the auspices of the Labour Court and Labour Relations Commission.