Dairygold to meet union on remaining redundancies as 491 sign up

Dairygold management will meet officials of SIPTU in Cork at the weekend to continue talks on nine involuntary redundancies which form part of the 500 job losses at the company.

The company has set today as the deadline for achieving what the company called the "right-sizing" of its staff.

It plans to cut its 3,200 employees by 500.

The company has negotiated a voluntary redundancy package with the unions which would see workers receive average payments of €65,000.

At the closing date for acceptance of the package, management said 491 staff had applied for the package in the Mitchelstown and Mallow areas.

The company began a wind-down of staff immediately, and last weekend it served notice on nine people who had not sought the redundancy package.

This was four days before its deadline for seeking involuntary redundancies.

SIPTU has sought a meeting with the company on these nine job losses, which it regards as "forced redundancy", and talks will take place at the weekend.

For the last 10 days, staff opting for the package have been briefed by a Dublin firm of accountants.

The firm has been employed by management to advise ex-employees on how to handle their payments.

The package accepted averaged out at up to 6½ weeks per year of service at the north Cork company.

The package is estimated to be worth €33,500 gross for a worker with 10 years' service on earnings of €500 per week.

This increases to €66,500 for workers on the same wage with 20 years of service, and to €99,500 for those with 30 years of service on €500 per week.

Most of the redundancies are taking place in Mitchelstown and the surrounding area, with around 100 in the plants around Mallow.

The job losses have been spread across the company from administrative and supervisory staff to general operatives and laboratory staff.

However, the cuts have been deepest in the transport department at Mitchelstown, where the entire section of 65 people was targeted for redundancy by the company.

The company is understood to be talking to the transport staff about a deal which would privatise their operations.

These involve the collection and delivery of milk, and the distribution of products.

The company has argued that unless it is able to reduce its staffing levels before the end of the year, it faces dramatic losses in the future.

Using an Ernst & Young projection, Dairygold said it stood to make a €9 million profit this year, only €1 million profit next year, and it could face losses of €9 million in 2005, €19 million in 2006 and €26 million in 2007 unless it addressed the problem.

In its last financial year, 2002, the company lost €3.4 million in its business operations, and its profitability dropped by €20 million.

Business and community organisations have expressed concern at the number of job losses at the company, which is the largest single employer in the north Cork area.

Mitchelstown Business Association has sought a taskforce to cope with the loss to the local economy.

The news in the Budget of the decentralisation of Bus Éireann and Fáilte Éireann to Mitchelstown and Mallow has not eased local concerns about the job losses.

It has been estimated that the decentralisation of the two bodies will provide a total of 400 jobs in the areas.

This is made up of just under 200 in Mitchelstown, and just over 200 in Mallow.