Siptu seeks intervention by Minister in Rehab redundancies dispute

Siptu has sought the intervention of the Minister for Social Protection in its long running dispute with Rehab over the terms on which staff were made redundant when a logistics centre in Raheen, Co Limerick was closed in 2021.

The union said it will mount a public campaign aimed at securing what it regards as outstanding payments for its members and will hold a protest outside Rehab’s group headquarters on Monday at 10am.

The redundancy payments the workers actually received fell significantly short of those provided for in an existing collective agreement between the organisation and union but Rehab said that it could not meet the additional €900,000 required to pay the amounts that would have been due to staff, some of whom had very considerable service.

When the dispute, which involved 38 of the former workers, came before the Labour Court, a financial expert said Rehab had “options” it could explore to raise the money and so its claim of inability to pay could not be said to have been successfully demonstrated.

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The court ultimately said that it “could find no clear and undisputed basis not to uphold the parties’ existing collective agreement and consequently recommends that it be respected until it is amended or terminated or replaced”.

In December, Rehab said “the final Labour Court recommendation is currently being taken through the appropriate internal governance process, and we will be able to revert to those impacted as soon as we are able to do so. We do recognise that this process is challenging for the former Enterprise employees in Limerick.

“We have and continue to engage with Siptu who are aware of the internal processes required and the fact that that this will take time to complete.”

The union, however, has repeatedly complained about the length of the time that process is taking and has now written to Heather Humphreys asking that she intervene to have the company, which is the largest employer of workers with disabilities in the State, speed up the process.

In the letter, which has been seen by The Irish Times, Greg Ennis, head of Siptu’s Manufacturing Division, complains that a company that employs “in some cases very vulnerable workers” and has been “in receipt of ongoing State funding and supports” has “ignored” and “disrespected” the State’s industrial relations institutions.

He references a March 2021 meeting between the union, the Minister, senior department officials and Ictu’s then General Secretary, Patricia King, where the matter was raised and says it “goes against all that is fair and reasonable” that the matter has still not been resolved.

A query from the The Irish Times regarding the Minister’s likely response to the appeal from Siptu was referred by the Department of Social Protection to the Department of Enterprise which said the affected workers had received support at the time of the centre’s closure to ensure they received their entitlements.

“However, negotiations on enhanced redundancy packages over and above the statutory entitlement are entirely a voluntary matter between employers and workers,” said a department spokesperson.

“The WRC and the Labour Court are independent offices of the Department. Recommendations arising from the WRC and the Labour Court are not legally binding. The State cannot compel a party to comply with a Labour Court Recommendation and the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment cannot intervene in this matter.

“The Minister emphasises that he strongly encourages parties to engage in the industrial relations process in a constructive manner and to comply with any recommendations arising from this process. All parties should respect the industrial relations mechanism of the State, which works extremely well and effectively,” they said.

Rehab said its position is unchanged since December with the process still ongoing.