160 jobs go as meat processing plants close
Sausage maker Olhausen has ceased trading at its plants in Blanchardstown and Coolock in Dublin and in Co Monaghan.
Receiver Jim Hamilton, of BDO, has informed representatives of the 160 workers the company closed without notice as it was no longer a going concern.
He was appointed by Ulster Bank.
Siptu organiser Colm Casserly said discussions were continuing with thereceiver over the payment of outstanding wages due to workers at the three plants, and on redundancy terms.
The union represents 100 of the workers.
Olhausen began as a retail butcher shop in Talbot St, Dublin, in 1896 and over the years evolved into one of Ireland’s foremost suppliers of traditional pork- based meats.
It is best known for sausages, puddings, bacon, and pork products which are sold under the brand names Olhausen, Byrnes, and Kearns.
Olhausen’s state-of-the-art distribution and production facilities were based at its Blanchardstown head-quarters. Further production plants were based in Coolock and Lough Egish in Monaghan.
BDO receivers Mr Hamilton and David O’Connor said the main focus now was ensuring all staff get their entitlements as quickly as possible.
“It is with regret that the company has been forced to cease to trade and unfortunately we have today had to inform the employees that all positions within the company are now redundant,” they said yesterday in a statement.
“Our primary focus is now on completing all the necessary paperwork in order that employee entitlements may be processed as quickly as possible.”
They also said they would try to find a purchaser for the remaining business and assets.
Olhausen board members were forced to seek receivers after failing to find a buyer for the struggling business.
The company had been suffering financial difficulties and had been working withadvisers and the bank to try to salvage the business.
Siptu organiser Mr Casserly confirmed the 160 staff members affected would be paid outstanding wages for work over the past two weeks. They can expect to receive their money next week.
Staff are also entitled to statutory redundancy pay, which could take betweenfour and six months to process. Mr Casserly said negotiations with the receivers had been tough.
“I don’t think they had any intention of paying out the wages, so negotiationswere hard but we got there in the end,” he said.
“People here are just so disgusted and shocked at the way this has beenhandled — coming into work and being told they no longer have a job to go to.”
Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said he hoped what was left of the business and its assets attracted interest from investors. He said Olhausen had been confined to the domestic market — a market that had suffered severe difficulties.
He said: “Clearly the challenge for us throughout the food sector is to internationalise and grow from an Irish base, so there’s a wider transformation that needs to occur. I believe that this company and what it has built will attract interest from investors and hopefully that’s what will come out of this receivership.”
