Chicken processing staff offered other jobs
Kerry Group, which owns the business, offered workers the chance to take up alternative posts in other group plants in Charleville and Listowel and confirmed it will negotiate redundancy terms with those who do not choose redeployment.
Forty local growers, who supplied the plant, are to seek an urgent meeting about supplies to Western Brand Chickens in Co Mayo, which will assume responsibility for grower breeder contracts as a result of a formal agreement with Kantoher.
However, SIPTU described the closure decision as a huge blow to both the workers involved and the local community. It claimed the level of industrial work that would be available in the region would be scant.
A spokesman for the Kerry Group said conditions in the Irish chicken industry have been extremely competitive in recent years, particularly on the domestic market.
“Due to the relatively small scale of the Kantoher business, we have been engaged in a continuous review of all the company’s operations aimed at securing the viability of the business, employment at the site and the livelihoods of growers and breeders.
“However, against this industry background and the requirement for consolidation in an increasingly competitive sector, there was, regrettably, no alternative but to cease production at the Kantoher site.”
The spokesman said consultations have already started with employees with regard to redeployment at other Kerry Group sites, redundancy arrangements and a planned outplacement programme.
Ger Kennedy, SIPTU, said the closure announcement was the first indication the union had that there were problems.
It was not accepting management’s decision until it had a good look at the reasons behind it and had explored every other possible avenue for the plant’s future.
Kantoher Growers chairman Dónal Mulcahy said growers now find themselves in a new situation with a new company and are willing to work constructively with Western Brand Chickens.
