Cheesestring strike at Kerry Group factory

MANAGEMENT staff from Kerry Group took to operating production lines at its production plant in Charleville last week amid an ongoing strike centred shift patterns.

Kerry Group employees at represented by SIPTU held their third 24 hour strike last Thursday in a dispute over proposed changes to employee conditions.

In a bid to deal with the potential fallout from the strike 30 members of management were drafted in to keep production running on the plant’s Cheesestrings manufacturing line.

Kerry Group Director of Corporate Affairs Frank Hayes said about 30 members of management from within the company were “doing their utmost to sustain this business and ensure its continued viability.”

Mr Hayes said that to maintain standards of food production, the line has to operate to some degree during the strike.

In a statement on the strike Mr Hayes said that changes in the marketplace had forced Kerry Group to introduce new measures to meet customers’ needs and allow an expansion in several European markets.

He said changes had been accepted in all departments at the Charleville plant except for the Cheesetring production line which is at the centre of the current strike action.

SIPTU organiser, Terry Bryan said the current action has been taken because management at the food ingredients plant, did not attend the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to discuss proposed changes to the terms and conditions of employment.

“The dispute will likely further escalate in the coming weeks if management continue to refuse to attend the WRC,” Mr Bryan said.

“There is a collective agreement between the company and workers concerning dispute resolution which clearly states that should a matter remain unresolved between the parties it shall be referred to the appropriate third party body, in this case, the WRC,” said Terry Bryan

“The items that are in dispute include proposed changes to shift patterns and terms, job rotation and appointments,” he said.