Concrete plant closure to cost 22 jobs

A company which was at the centre of a bitter six-week strike is to close with the loss of 22 jobs, it emerged tonight.

Doyle Concrete in Rathangan, Co Kildare had been embroiled in controversy after SIPTU accused it of making its members redundant and hiring lower paid foreign workers.

The company, which ceased operations last December, has blamed the strike for the closure but this has been strongly rejected by SIPTU.

“This could have been resolved very easily if they were prepared to put a reasonable redundancy offer on the table. But they have acted in a belligerent way throughout. Unfortunately, these people have taken the Irish Ferries roadmap to industrial relations,” said branch organiser Adrian Kane.

He said the six week strike at Doyle Concrete which began last October had started because the company attempted to make three workers redundant without consultation, and hired foreign workers at lower rates of pay.

The 16 SIPTU members at the factory responded by going on strike. It was called off after six weeks when a deal was agreed at the Labour Court, but this deal later broke down.

The situation was further complicated by the existence of Steelite, a company at the same premises, which the management of Doyle Concrete said was a separate entity.

The Labour Court treated Steelite and Doyle Concrete as part of the same organisation and recommended that any redundancies in Doyle Concrete and Steelite, should be voluntary. It also recommended that management guarantee that non-national staff are not on lower rates of pay.

The workers at Doyle Concrete will receive the statutory redundancy payment of two weeks for every year of service rather than the five weeks recommended by the Labour Court.

Mr Kane said that workers would be meeting on Friday to consider all forms of action against Steelite, which is still operating, including industrial action.

“We’ve a tough decision to make,” he said.

Doyle Concrete was unavailable for comment.