Siptu seek urgent meeting with North Cork Creameries management

Currently, the North Cork Creameries do not intend to begin the 30-day statutory redundancy consultation process

The meeting was called following an announcement that North Cork Creameries is proposing to enter a redundancy process, which could result in significant job losses at their processing plant in Kanturk, Co Cork.

A call for an urgent meeting with senior management at North Cork Creameries was made by the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (Siptu).

The union met with company representatives on March 9, where the request to meet with senior management to have a discussion was proposed.

In the meeting with those representatives, it was revealed that the company does not “intend to begin the 30-day statutory redundancy consultation process at this time”. 

Siptu organiser, Sharon Ryan, said: “Our immediate concerns are with our members and their families who are only beginning to come to terms with the possible loss of their livelihoods.” 

The meeting was called following an announcement that North Cork Creameries is proposing to enter a redundancy process, which could result in significant job losses at their processing plant in Kanturk, Co Cork.

The dairy processing plant is a major employer in the Kanturk and North Cork area, employing more than 100 workers.

Siptu say they intend to engage with the company to explore alternatives to the proposed job losses and attempt to protect as many of their members’ roles as possible.

Continuing, Ms Ryan said: “We are aware there have been difficulties at the plant for some time related to ongoing issues with the effluent plant and the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to revoke its operating licence.” 

Siptu have said that union representatives will also “engage with all stakeholders to seek to limit the impact any job losses will have on the local economy and community.” 

With uncertainty still hanging over the town of Kanturk and its residents, a spokesperson for the Kanturk Chamber of Commerce and local business owner, Kieran Fitzgerald, said the situation “is raw, and in a small town, it's personal because everyone knows somebody who works there”. 

Mr Fitzgerald said the news came “out of the blue” for the residents of Kanturk, and that the processing facility and co-op is “one of the pillar industries in the area”. 

Mr Fitzgerald said he hopes the announcement does not result in the full closure of the plant.

“You hope there can be some way to navigate through it… you hope that they haven’t gone over the brink yet, that they might be able to pull it back,” he said.