Unions to ballot Element Six staff

Staff at the Element Six factory in Shannon, Co Clare, are to ballot for industrial action.

Staff at the Element Six factory in Shannon, Co Clare, are to ballot for industrial action.

Earlier this month, the company, which used to be known as De Beers Industrial Diamonds, announced it was closing its manufacturing facility with the loss of 370 jobs. The company blamed the high cost of doing business in Ireland for the decision. It also announced it was retaining 80 jobs in research and development and marketing.

A proposition by Irish management to retain some 160 of the jobs to be cut was accepted by senior management of the company in London last week. However, unions at the plant have said they will not co-operate with any job-saving proposal unless the company offers an enhanced redundancy deal.

The deal would involve Government support in the form of training grants and temporary wage subsidies. It also involves an enhanced redundancy deal. The company has offered 2.5 weeks above statutory payments, the equivalent of 4.5 weeks in total.

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The deal has been rejected by Siptu and the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) , which represent the majority of the workers

The unions said today they would ballot members over the next few days to in a bid to protect their jobs and secure better redundancy terms for those staff whose jobs cannot be saved.

The company “is also only offering redundancy terms worth a fraction of previous packages,” a statement from the unions said.

“Workers at the plant are extremely apprehensive about the future and it is far from clear what the management agenda for the plant is,” Siptu branch organiser Mary O’Donnell said. “We require a full and frank disclosure of all the options with them.”

TEEU regional secretary Pat Keane said the unions will “exhaust every avenue to resolve the dispute locally if we can and use all the avenues open to us prior to taking industrial action, provided that management adhere to local procedures”.

The General Manager of Element 6 today warned all workers that any further unofficial stoppages at the plant would result in the company pressing ahead with its original plan to shut down manufacturing with the loss of 370 jobs.

In a letter circulated this morning to workers and seen by The Irish Times, Ken Sullivan said that if employees do not work normally, management at the company has instructed him to proceed with  the original wind-down in full with the loss of 370 jobs.

Mr Sullivan said: "This is not attended as a threat, but is simply a  statement of fact as the Executive is not prepared to allow the business to be damaged by failure to meet the requirements of our
customers upon which the very survival of Element 6 is dependent."