Compensation call for sugar workers
Councillor Sean Sherlock, a Labour Party member of Cork County Council and Mallow Town Council, has also demanded that some of that package be diverted to workers who wish to start their own businesses.
Following a meeting with MEP Proinsias De Rossa and Finnish Social Democrat MEP Ritta Myller, he said it is the clear intention of the European Parliament to ensure that the workers who have been affected by the decision would get the best deal possible.
Mr Sherlock said there has been little or no talk about how the demise of the industry will affect workers. The intention of the European Parliament to lobby on their behalf must be listened to by the Irish Government, he added.
“I am calling for some of the restructuring package to be diverted to workers who wish to start their own businesses or who wish to start up new projects from which they could derive new incomes.
“If the growers can argue for compensation on the basis of a projected loss of income, then I do not see why workers should not be entitled to the same conditions. In any redundancy or wind-down of an industry the workers are always left with the crumbs.
“Diverting some of the compensation towards encouraging workers to start their own projects would at least allow them to salvage something from this fiasco, which was not of their making,” he said.
