Irish costs are too high, says Unilever

The Irish arm of consumer goods giant Unilever has warned that its cost base here is too high and if does not address this issue, it will not have the funds to invest to survive in Ireland.

The firm sounded the warning at the Labour Court where it has argued with Siptu over redundancy terms for employees.

In May, the firm announced it was seeking 40 redundancies from a workforce of 190. At the time it said it was seeking the redundancies in an attempt to create a “more competitive organisation... in response to an unrelentingly challenging retail environment”.