Smurfit Kappa jobs could be at risk
Company proposals on “restructuring” were expected to be discussed at the 11am meeting with staff. Though it was unclear whether this meant job cuts, one SIPTU official said that “whenever a company says it is restructuring you have to fear the worst”.
Another union source pointed out last night that manufacturing jobs were going at a rate of up to 100 a day in recent days.
Meanwhile, SIPTU has predicted hundreds of jobs could be lost in the meat-processing industry because of State-funded restructuring of the sector.
The union’s branch organiser Miriam Hamilton made the claim following a meeting with management at Meadow Meats in Laois yesterday. That meeting failed to find any way of saving up to 100 jobs in the operation’s boning hall.
“The Government is providing €69 million in funding to the Dawn Group, which owns Meadow Meats, to Kepak and AIBP, to rationalise and consolidate production,” she said. “But it is not providing the same sort of supports to the workers, farmers and other members of local communities adversely affected by this strategy.
“We have already lost 100 jobs in Cork with the concentration of production by the Dawn Group at Charleville, and now 100 more jobs are being lost in Rathdowney with the boning hall facility being transferred to Grannagh in Waterford. Dawn Meats and Kepak are planning to build a giant abattoir in Kilbeggan shortly, which will lead to more job losses elsewhere.”
Fears are also growing over the future of 200 jobs in Belmullet, Co Mayo, and Waterford.
ICT Eurotel Ltd has announced that it is to enter into a period of consultation with its employees regarding the future of the company.
In Waterford last night, Bausch and Lomb was expected to tell staff that it was seeking 105 redundancies in addition to the 195 sought in March.
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