Plant appears to have been run down deliberately
LOUTH Senator Ged Nash raised the case of TAFC workers during a debate in the Seanad last week.
‘Appeals from staff for clarity about the future intentions of the company fell, unfortunately, on deaf ears in recent months and weeks,’ said the Louth Senator.
‘Local management, unfortunately, appeared to be sidelined and left in the dark. We know there are no jobs in a closed factory and the union knows that as well. On that basis, the Unite trade union did the responsible thing and formally contacted the company’s parent operation in the UK. As any responsible trade union would, Unite sought on several occasions to meet the key decision-makers from the company formally. The union sought to establish the nature and extent of the problems at the Dundalk plant and to offer to work with the company if it needed to ensure the survival of the operation. Time and again, however, the union’s approaches were rebuffed and stonewalled.’
He told how workers at the plant ‘reported the transferring of profitable production lines from the Dundalk facility to the parent company’s facilities in the UK.’
‘Given what we know and the Dundalk company’s refusal to engage with its staff and the union, I can only conclude that the operation in Dundalk appears to have been deliberately run down. Last week, the parent company in the UK pulled its support. The Irish operation is a subsidiary of the UK parent. The behaviour of the Irish arm of the company and the activities between it and its parent in the UK need to be examined formally and forensically. All too often we have seen workers left on the street as companies hide behind the protection of the courts in deemed insolvencies where fancy footwork and sharp practices are used to put assets beyond the use of redundant workers and other creditors. Those are assets that should normally be used to pay decent redundancies and moneys owed to small businesses. Now, 180 workers have not formally been made redundant and they are not legally entitled to the 30 day redundancy notice period to allow them work with their trade union on an enhanced or improved redundancy package. They also cannot or will not take up alternative employment because they hope that, somehow, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland or other State agencies might find an alternative operator for the facility in Dundalk.’