Bausch + Lomb workers face €6k cuts to basic pay

Staff at Bausch + Lomb are facing average cuts of €6,000 to their basic pay under the cost-cutting plan announced by the company.

Siptu represents a number of workers at the firm and said recent Ibec figures showed average basic pay rate in the Waterford plant is €29,000. That increases to €39,000 when shift premiums are factored in.

Canadian drug giant Valeant bought the Bausch + Lomb parent group in an $8.7bn deal last year. On Thursday, the company announced plans to reduce its 1,110-plus workforce in Waterford by 200. Remaining staff would then be subject to a 20% pay cut.

The company wants to bring the cost base of the plant closer to that in Rochester, New York, where wage rates are over 30% lower. Management has set June 17 as the deadline for the conclusion of talks.

According to Alan O’Leary of Siptu, the union is due to meet with local representatives on Monday before entering negotiations with the firm on Tuesday. “In the event that the matter is not resolved during the next week, then we are going to utilise the Labour Relations Commission or Labour Court if necessary,” he said.

The Government knew for “several months” that cuts were looming at the plant.

Siptu vice-president Patricia King said she has written to Jobs Minister Richard Bruton expressing concern that “officials of the department, through the IDA, were in discussions with the company in relation to its plans for some considerable time yet at no stage did they find it appropriate to inform this trade union which represents the majority of the workforce of the threatened job and pay cuts”.

“It was both unfair, and an unfortunate display of disrespect that the dedicated workers at Bausch + Lomb/Valeant learned of the company’s shocking proposals and the threat to their livelihoods through the media on Thursday.”

IDA chief executive Barry O’Leary pointed out that part of the Valeant/Bausch + Lomb merger in August required a 15% cut in the workforce and annual savings of $800m.

“B+L is a large company, so that 15% would relate to 1,700 jobs to be cut,” he told RTÉ radio when asked when they knew of potential job losses.

“We have had a lot of interaction with them about positioning Ireland to come out of this in a way that would leave a significant presence in Ireland. So it goes back to the original acquisition and over the last few months.”

He said the reality was that if the cost savings are not achieved, the operation will not be here. “I think that’s the stark reality that people have to make the judgment call (on the company proposals), however bitter it is to swallow,” he said.