This article is from page 10 of the 2009-08-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
that there was “strong sup- port” for the call for staff to occupy the plant.
“We had a long meeting with staff and that was one of the suggestions which had strong support. On con- sideration, it was decided that they would not go ahead with this plan. The reason that staff feel strongly
enough to stage a sit in is that they don’t trust what they are being told. Long before the announcement last week, it was known that there would be this number of jobs here after the cuts. But management employed this shock and awe tactic of saying all the jobs would go, just so people would be grateful for what they got.”
Both unions have said they will continue to explore all avenues to resolve the current dispute prior to taking industrial action.
While the company has indicated it is willing to keep an additional 160 jobs at the Shannon plant, on top of the 80 initially indicated, it employed over 600 workers up until late last year and up to 1,000 at one stage.
It is also offering redundancy terms worth a fraction of previous pack- ene
“We must save as many jobs as pos- sible,’ Ms O’Donnell said after an- nouncing the decision to ballot for industrial action. “But we also need far better terms for anyone facing redundancy in the present bleak en-
vironment.
“Workers at the plant are extremely apprehensive about the future and it is far from clear what the manage- ment agenda for the plant is. We re- quire a full and frank disclosure of all the options with them.”
TEEU Regional Secretary Pat Keane said, “We are all committed to doing everything possible to keep these highly skilled jobs in Shannon. The mid-west cannot afford to lose more jobs in manufacturing.
“We will exhaust every avenue to resolve the dispute locally, if we can, and use all the avenues open to us prior to taking industrial action, pro- vided that management adhere to lo- cal procedures. So far they have been far readier to talk to the media than to their own employees and unions.”