This article is from page 2 of the 2011-07-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
A BANK account has been set up to support the families of the striking workers at the Cliffs of Moher Centre as industrial action enters its second week at the landmark tourism site.
The striking workers have refused any donation from the public up to this point but, due to a large number of collections being organised around the county, they have established an account to manage funds coming in.
Industrial action has been ongoing at the Cliffs of Moher since last Thursday. The row centres around pay and working condition for the SIPTU members who believe that they should have the same status as employees of Clare County Council. Cliffs of Moher Centre Ltd is a private company which is owned in full by Clare County Council.
“Nobody is a winner in a strike situation. We are doing a good job of keep morale up but I think it goes without saying that everyone would prefer to be back working as normal,” said local SIPTU rep Tony Kenny.
“We have had a lot of people asking where they can donate to the workers. We have been refusing this up until now but a number of collections have been held in different work places around the country and we have set up an account to deal with this.
“The workers are not being paid while they are on strike but instead they are given strike pay by the union – which is a very small payment. It is just enough to keep people going.”
Meanwhile, management at the Cliffs of Moher have denied that anyone has been charged improperly at the centre since strike action began.
As a long established public right of way exists at the Cliffs of Moher, a € 7 charge is applied to visitors who uses either the parking facilities of the interpretive centre. However, a number of bus divers have refused to pass the picket line and instead dropped tourists on the side of the road. These tourist were charged on entering the facility, even though they did not park on site.
A spokesperson from the local authority confirmed that a number of busses had decided not to use the parking facilities but the people in these buses were charged for viewing the exhibitions.
The spokesperson said that the council was “not aware of anybody who wished to exercise their right to use the public right of way and was charged for doing so”.