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SIPTU has criticised a decision by the management of Lagan Brick not to attend a Labour Court hearing aimed at resolving the dispute at the company's manufacturing plant in Kingscourt, Co. Cavan, is in breach of the Private Sector Protocol agreed by the social partners.
The union's criticism follows indications from the company that it will not accept the intervention of the Labour Court in the dispute involving redundancy payments due to 25 SIPTU members following the closure of the Kingscourt facility on the 15th December.
SIPTU Organiser, John Regan, said: "On the 6th February SIPTU stated that it would be seeking the intervention of the Labour Court in this dispute following the break down of talks at the Labour Relations Commission. To date, SIPTU has received no formal response but the management of Lagan Brick has indicated in a press statement that as far as it is concerned the industrial relations process is at an end, with the strong implication that the company will not attend the Labour Court.
"Such a refusal to fully utilise the State’s industrial relations machinery would not only breach a union and management agreement at the enterprise level but also break the terms of the protocol agreed between the employers representative organisation, IBEC, and Congress to govern industrial relations in the private sector."
John Regan noted that the most recent offer of redundancy terms from the management of Lagan Brick had made reference to a package offered to the company's workers at its Athy plant.
"In its latest offer of redundancy terms to the workers the company refers to a package that was in place in its sister plant in Athy. It is clear that, operating as a group of companies, Lagan Brick does have the resources to pay the redundancy terms of 4 weeks per year of service that is the established precedence at the Kingscourt plant. Company management cannot treat various facilities in their company as separate entities one day and then the next make reference to them for purposes of redundancy payments as the one operation."
(CD/GK)
