Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE FORMER VITA Cortex workers have agreed to restart talks at the Labour Relations Commission which broke down acrimoniously six weeks ago.
The protesters, who have been staging a sit-in at the company’s closed plant since being laid off in December, have agreed to attend discussions starting week.
Siptu, the union representing the 32 former employees, said they welcomed the second invitation from the LRC. The workers are seeking redundancy payments of 0.9 weeks per year of service on top of their statutory entitlements, which they say was previously agreed with management.
In a tweet yesterday, the workers stated that Vita Cortex management would not be participating in the talks, which this time would be between the union and the LRC alone.
However, they said the talks were “an extremely positive step towards bringing about a just and equitable resolution.” Siptu organiser Ann Egar also welcomed the move, saying:
The workers represented by SIPTU in this dispute have welcomed the invitation by the LRC and hope it provides the opportunity to bring an end to this long and difficult battle to secure their agreed redundancy entitlements.
Previous talks at the LRC broke down without resolution in January, while discussions involving all parties and business organisation IBEC ended with Siptu rejecting a “derisory” offer from management.
The workers have received pledges of support from a number of public figures including Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, actor Cillian Murphy, and scholar Noam Chomsky.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It’s a national disgrace that these Folk have to put up such a battle for what are entitlements,if only the Govt had the same strength and determination,this will end but who is next? Every union in the country should have waded in.its a massive plus on a cv to have such an insistence for your rights.
“its a massive plus on a cv to have such an insistence for your rights”
50/50 – potential employers could look at it as being a troublemaker.
However if they do they they probably aren’t worth working for anyway.
The workers were supposed to buckle – they didn’t. An inspiration to other workers.
Some fella there has something like 40 years service …… He must have seen some clowns in government in his time …… Shame a grafter like that gets treated like this.
Love this, hope they get sorted this time. They shouldn’t have had to put up with all this. Hope their strength and determination yields positive results.
One thing I note from all this is the public’s unending support that they get their entitlements. However when public servants and politicians claim their entitlements well that’s a whole different ball game isn’t it.
Just a thought. No need to hammer me for it.
Well any employer would be impressed with such self belief,just an opinion have a good day.
Lots of sympathy for their plight, but let’s get facts right. They are entitled to statutory redundancy and they got it. The company has to prove inability to pay and it did, otherwise dept would not have paid. They are fighting for fulfillment of ex gratia commitment made by owners of company which owners deny. Seems like they have no legal entitlement and owners have no legal obligation.
Well said.
Always the haters lol just kidding john smith everyone is entitled to their opinion ,I’m curious though as to why you support a company that for three years leading up to this point systematically stripped this plant of its assets ,distributed these assets between the other plants,other plants that these people worked at over the years mind you,cosied up to Nama and somehow had the knowledge to transfer monies into wives accounts etc ,let the factory begin to deteriorate,pay two shareholders ie themselves 250,000 euro each with full pensions ,and hire a financial firm to absolve them of any financial responsibility to the workers at this plant who built their luxurious lifestyles for them.Some of these workers worked in the office and it’s widely recognized that the company was indeed profitable year ending and had a book full of orders for the following year,yeah that sure sounds like a plant that had no other option but to close.This was a systematic common hold up of these workers and now of the social fund by these company directors,if I hide behind and manipulate corporate laws with slick financial advice the social fund will have to cough up,and we can ride off into the sunset free of all responsibility,that was the thinking here john and because the government can’t do anything legally you think we should just say well that’s the end of the story.Well I’m sorry your comment deeply disturbed me as I cannott give a free pass to unscrupulous employers abusing our company laws ,our workers or our social fund for their own gains,this is why though they did not ask for this position,these workers are obliged to fight for themselves and all of us who are employed,pay taxes or run businesses the right way.Maybe you should investigate the case further ,I can only hope you didn’t have all the facts before writing your comment,have a good day.
Hi Leah was expecting the emotonal response and in fairness to you it didn’t take long. It’s a pity the director of corporate enforcement didn’t have your insight if he did he would not have said that their was no grounds for investigating.Leaving that aside you are missing my point, which was that this is a moral crusade and has no legal basis. Having been made redundant myself a number of times I have the utmost sympathy with them but hate the emotional comments and tactics that actually undermine their position.
Oh sorry john smith got your name wrong in my last post because I was so emotional lol,excuse the emotional response but at least I have the common decency and humanity in me to stand up for retirement aged people who are being robbed blind,I see you don’t share my sensibilities ,your personal attack of my emotional attachment to this case speaks volumes of your own sense of fairness sir.
If anyone deserves a bailout these guys do
Dignified , defiant & determined
A contrast to the moaning crybabies Involved in some other protests
Not a lot of dignity in the way they picketed the home of the ex MD who is years retired. They should have kept their fight with Jack Ronan instead of intimidating older people.
These guys are most inspiring. I hope all working class people support this fight.
Also john dunne the older director whose house was picketed ,you do know he is the father in law of jack Ronan who faired handsomely from all of this and tried to bribe the workers to go home from the sit in on the first week so they could remove the other assets from the plant,1500 euro he offered them to go home so he could rob them some more and told them they could continue their picket on Monday ,yeah john he sounds like a victim here.A lot of these people are retirement age and this older years retired md and his son inlaw are robbing them of their life’s work,and you want to sit and defend a handful of them walking up and down in front of his house,there are no words,I can’t even extend my energies to debate with you,I can see its pointless.
Get a grip.Just because someone points out a fact and also expresses disagreements with the tactics employed you automatically go into overdrive.
All this talk about robbery is not supported by the facts as seen by the authorities. If they did Ronan would be in Jail.Sorry you are running out of energy. There are people out there who have a lot of sympathy with the workers plight but are sick of listening to the rhetoric.
It’s about time for these talks 3&1/2 months DISGRACEFUL
Best if luck to you all
Ok john smith good talking to you ,yes I’m reading your responses but you don’t seem to want to hear my thoughts or opinions unless they align with yours and I’m too closely connected to this to argue on legal technicalities,it’s wrong plain and simple and jack Ronan could right this mess by just writing a cheque,but thankyou for showing passion and interest and sympathy for the workers,as for us daughters we are merely fighting for our dads whom I’m sure we can both agree john have been abused here by the directors of this company,legally or illegally abused doesn’t change how they have been treated.
John smith you may be sick of the rhetoric ,but unfortunately for myself and other family members of the workers we don’t get to comment on a blog and forget about this for the rest of the day were living it.The Taoiseach himself aswel as the lrc have publicly stated that the responsibility lays with the employer to pay these workers what they are owed and yes we have grave concerns with the lack of any direct communications from odce in regard investigations as his comment was that their was not sufficient grounds AT THIS TIME for an investigation,that was it.I refuse to stick my head in the sand and swallow what I’m fed from odce when both the Taoiseach and lrc are of the opinion that the responsibility rests with the owners and I don’t appreciate you trying to bully me out of having my opinions on a public forum.I do not need to get a grip and I assure you I am very familiar with the facts of this case,you say you have sympathy for the plight of these workers but you do not seem to want to accept their truth.were all well aware of the opinion of odce and we are strongly suspect of it,so if it makes you feel better to berate me for my opinions what can I do about it,personally with all I’ve seen in these last months I would question anyone in authority to prove a statement after they make it because there is a lot about this case and the moving around of monies and assets that’s deeply suspect,I myself place no lesser value on a moral argument versus a legal argument ,and if the laws of the land uphold this behavior then they are not serving any purpose for employees,good day to you sir,let’s agree to disagree because I refuse to get into a txting war online with you,it’s not conducive to anything positive.
Ok Leah not much point in continuing this as you are obviously not reading my responses if this is what you are concluding from them. Again let me finish by saying I really hope they get something whether morally or legally entitled to it.
Sorry that was supposed to say and you want to find fault with a handfull of them walking up and down outside his house obviously.
Ah Leah is probably your name “John smith” is most Likely one of the many Id’s used by a big fat nasty old troll taking the piss!
have your say