Pharma giant employees begin voting on cuts ‘deal’

Employees at pharmaceutical giant Bausch + Lomb have begun voting on a cutbacks "deal" which could decide if the plant will remain open into the future.

Over 1,100 people work at the contact lens manufacturer in Waterford and have been considering a set of proposals in recent days which management hope will shave €18.5m from the payroll costs. A result on the secret ballot being conducted among union members yesterday and today should be known by tonight.

The plan includes almost 200 redundancies and a 7.5% cut to core pay which, coupled with the elimination of bonuses and a cut to shift allowance, would result in an effective reduction in wages of almost 15%, according to staff.

Other measures include the eventual loss of winter and summer bonuses, the end of a canteen subsidy, reduction in paid sick leave from 10 weeks to three weeks, an extra working hour per week, a two-year pay freeze, and a new “starter” pay rate set at 10% below the current entry level.

Measures described as “sweeteners” by the company’s side include “buy-out” payments to compensate for the loss of bonuses and a one-off payment equivalent to the amount an employee will lose in two years because of the pay cuts.

Mike Pearson, CEO of Bausch + Lomb’s parent company, Valeant, issued a memo to employees on Friday underlining their commitment to Waterford, provided the current “deal on the table” is accepted by union members.

Management announced over two weeks ago that it wanted to introduce 20% pay cuts and 200 redundancies in Waterford just to keep the plant open, saying it wanted to reduce payroll costs by 30%.

Talks chaired by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) between management and Siptu and the TEEU broke up on Thursday morning at Croke Park following some all-night sessions and the LRC then drew up the document which it described as the company’s “final proposal”.

The LRC said all parties had entered the talks in “genuine and good faith” and engaged in intensive negotiations but could not finalise an agreed position.

Management’s proposal was then presented to union members at staff meetings on Thursday evening and workers have been considering the proposals since then and obtaining clarification on any issues which arose.

Voting on the proposal got under way yesterday morning and will continue until about 5pm this evening.

The LRC urged workers to give the document “most serious constructive consideration”.

The company set a deadline of tomorrow for a final decision.

“People are making a judgement based on their own personal circumstances,” a union representative said yesterday. “There have been a lot of queries and questions and we’ve been dealing with those since the meeting on Thursday night and throughout Friday and Saturday.”