Employees make ‘social charter’ redundancy plea to former pharmaceutical plant owner

Employees at a drugs’ manufacturer which was put into administration are hoping to make an unusual plea under the social responsibility charter of a former owner after 115 employees were left without redundancy despite concerns having been raised when the plant was sold four years ago for €1.

Union representatives at the plant in Shannon Town, Co Clare, are hoping to talk in the next few days with UCB — an international drugs manufacturer which is based in Brussels — and which owned the plant until 2016 before it sold it for the nominal sum to a US drugs group called Avara.