SEVEN Northern Ireland employers have agreed to adopt new programmes of "affirmative action" after investigations by the Fair Employment Commission found that they had little or no representation from one or other community.

Five of the companies - Bairdwear, Carpets International, Norbrook Laboratories, Northern Telecom (NI), and Sherwood Medical Industries - are in the manufacturing sector. The other two are Leckpatrick Dairies and the Coleraine company Dairy Produce Packers, both subsidiaries of the Cork based co op Golden Vale.

The FEC said that the companies needed to take some action to develop their equal opportunities programmes, and to ensure that their policies, practices, and procedures were fully in line with the FEC Code of Practice.

Leckpatrick Dairies was found by the FEC to have "significant under representation of Catholics" at each of its four locations. Dairy Produce Packers was found to have a reasonable proportion of both communities in the non manual workforce, but fewer Catholics than expected in manual and other grades.

In Norbrook Laboratories in Newry, which is owned by Senator Edward Haughey, the problem was an under representation of Protestants in the workforce.