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SIPTU anger at Element Six plan
THE anger of workers is "palpable" at Element Six ahead of a general meeting of staff this Monday at the troubled Shannon plant.
SIPTU have now accused the company of treating workers with "utter contempt", as it emerged on Friday last that a previously agreed redundancy package is not going to be matched.
Three weeks ago, the industrial diamond company announced it would cease manufacturing operations in Shannon by the end of the year with the loss of 370 jobs.
However, the company have now decided to retain 163 of these jobs. Added to the R&D and customer support functions, it would mean around 250 jobs in total being retained in Shannon.
But around 200 workers still face the dole queue and are fighting to better the latest improved redundancy offer.
Jobs have been saved following talks in London between Element Six top brass and local management in Shannon headed by Ken Sullivan, general manager, to secure the long-term future of the manufacturing facility.
Management met with union representatives, and subsequently with employees, at the plant last Friday morning with details of the rescue plan.
The company proposed that existing workers will have to apply for the jobs being maintained at the plant. Element Six will also be availing of the Government support scheme in relation to those jobs.
Staff were informed that the redundancy offer now on the table is 2.5 weeks per year of service plus statutory entitlements, with a cap of one year's pay. However, the previously agreed package was eight weeks per year of service, including statutory entitlements.
SIPTU official Mary O'Donnell accused the company of reneging on previous agreements and said the reaction by both SIPTU and the TEEU "is one of anger".
Ms O'Donnell said staff have now been placed in a position "where there is absolutely no trust that the jobs concerned are for the long term".
She said there is a belief that the jobs being retained are nothing "more than a stopgap to take advantage of the Government subsidy scheme funded by the taxpayer".
"The sense of anger and betrayal in the workforce, many of whom have served through thick and thin, is palpable. The union committee has advised management that in the light of management failing to deliver on our agreed position, they cannot give any assurance of the co-operation of the workforce," she said.
Labour's Deputy Jan O'Sullivan and Fine Gael's Deputy Kieran O'Donnell both welcomed the announcement that some 240 jobs will be maintained but said workers who are to be made redundant should be offered a redundancy package that is "fair and decent."
"There cannot be a trade-off between saving jobs on the one hand and a reasonable redundancy package on the other," said Deputy O'Sullivan.
Deputy O'Donnell, finance spokesman for Fine Gael, added that workers who are to be retained should receive a fair employment contract.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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