Co-op staff vote for industrial action
A ballot of SIPTU members in the dairy processing giant, largely based in north Cork, voted four to one in favour of strike. The papers were sorted and counted at Liberty Hall in Mallow, Co Cork, yesterday.
The union will now draw up a plan of action.
A spokesman for Dairygold said there is nothing that could justify industrial action. Any issues arising can be resolved through local discussion and in an upcoming Labour Court hearing jointly requested by both Dairygold and SIPTU.
The Labour Relations Commission, following a meeting in Cork this week, referred three specific issues to the Labour Court for consideration.
These included:
Selection criteria for compulsory redundancy.
Its labour relations procedural agreement.
Loss of earnings by employees as a result of changed work practices.
The union decided to ballot its members because it maintained the company was violating industrial relations agreements a claim refuted by the co-op.
Dairygold, in the middle of a rationalisation programme, announced before Christmas that it had achieved 500 redundancies, nine of them believed to be compulsory.
SIPTU, which represents most of the co-op's remaining 2,500 employees, warned that it could not accept any proposal that included compulsory redundancies and said it was seriously concerned about other issues including unilateral changes in work practices.
In a newsletter to staff, Dairygold said the redundancy and cost-cutting programme had been a painful exercise for all involved.
Meanwhile, 28 jobs are to be lost as a result of a decision by Clona Dairy Products to relocate its production activity from Ballinahina, Co Cork to its Clonakilty plant.
The job losses will result from the relocation of production, the rationalisation of distribution activity and the consolidation of the administration function.
Dawn Dairies in Ballinahina was purchased by Clona from the Kerry Group in 2000. The Ballinahina site will remain a distribution centre for the company, servicing the company's substantial customer base in Cork city and the greater Cork area.
Clona general manager Tony O'Driscoll said the decision to relocate production was necessary to protect long-term viability.
As a result of the increasingly competitive environment and the reduction of profit margins within the sector as a whole, it was no longer viable to operate two production facilities.
The decision was not taken easily and not until a full review of the company's operations and costs had been undertaken. It did not reflect in any way on the workforce at Ballinahina.
Mr O'Driscoll said the relocation of production to the more modern plant in Clonakilty will protect the remaining 91 jobs and provide a more efficient service to customers.
The company will establish out-placement and re-employment services and will do everything it can to find alternative positions for those affected, he said.
