Former workers in sit-in at Pierce’s

January 2003

Workers made redundant by Pierce Engineering are staging a sit-in to try win better severance terms.

Bosses at Pierce’s parent company, Waterford Stanley, have offered the workers a week’s pay per year of service in addition to statutory redundancy terms, but the 62 men are holding out a for a month’s pay for every year.

‘The action comes as a disappointment to management, given that they had agreed to a request from Mr Billy Kine, the regional officer of the AEEU, to attend a further conciliation conference,’ the company said in a statement issued this week.

Asking workers to reconsider the sit-in, the company said that over the past nine months, it had ‘patiently negotiated’ issues with them and made every possible effort to achieve a satisfactory conclusion for all concerned.

In the meantime, approximately 13 workers in the Pierce Pack Division, which Pierce’s management hope to sell as a going concern, are working normally.

Mr Kyne said he was due to hold talks with bosses at Pierce’s today (Wednesday) in a bid to smooth the path for the LRC talks, scheduled for January 21, and to try to resolve some local issues.

‘I believe that management should avail of the Labour Relations meeting to finally resolve the redundancy terms for those employees,’ said Mr Kyne.

‘While both sides have strong views, the collective difficulties being experienced by the workers and their families can only be resolved by agreement on the redundancy issue,’ said Mr Kyne, adding that he believed the company should bring the redundancy terms into line with industry norms.