Siptu has served strike notice on Carroll’s Cuisine in Tullamore, the packaged meats and ready meals supplier, in a dispute over union recognition.
Notice of the proposed action, to initially involve 12 hour stoppages on Sunday and Monday, November 16th and 17th, was served on the company on Friday evening.
Siptu is understood to have a about 100 members at the firm which employs about 300 but the union says a majority of the general operatives employed are currently members and it expects the two day strike to cause significant disruption to production.
The union deferred a previously planned strike to allow for talks but the engagement came to nothing after management said it had no plans to recognise the union, said Siptu division organiser Neil McGowan.
READ MORE
“We met them last Friday and the talks were professional and courteous but when they came back to us they made it clear they wanted to stick with what they described as direct engagement,” he said.
“It is clear that management has chosen conflict with its workforce rather than compromise and agree a fair, negotiated settlement.”
He said no further talks are currently planned but that if the management sought further engagement in advance of the stoppages, the union would be available to meet.
“This dispute fundamentally stems from a failure by the company to respect workers’ right to collectively bargain through their union. Ireland remains an outlier in western Europe in terms of collective bargaining rights. Working people, like those in Carroll’s, should not be left with no other option than taking industrial action to secure fair pay and union recognition.”
The union said its members will place pickets on all entrances to the Tullamore plant for the duration of the work stoppages.
