Irish Cement strike and Palestine controversy brought up at CRH agm

CRH SUBSIDIARY Irish Cement will begin conciliation talks today with representatives of 100 workers who have been on strike for almost five weeks as a result of a pay dispute with the company.

Staff at Irish Cement plants in Castlemungret, Co Limerick, and Platin, Co Meath, downed tools last month in a row with the company over payments worth €5,500-€9,500 to each worker.

The staff and their trade union, Siptu, say a Labour Court ruling obliges the company to pay them the cash. However, Irish Cement says the payments are tied to workers accepting pay cuts of up to 23 per cent.

A number of speakers raised the strike at CRH’s agm yesterday. Afterwards chief executive Myles Lee said he did not want to comment directly on the dispute as it was going into conciliation today. But he added the group would like to see both plants back in production as quickly as possible.

The CRH board came under fire on several fronts during the meeting in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dún Laoghaire.

Palestinian human rights attorney Huwaida Arraf called on the group to sell its 25 per cent stake in Israeli group Mashav, which in turn owns Nesher Cement.

She and the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign claim Nesher has been supplying cement to concrete producers that are in turn supplying materials used to build the West Bank barrier, the 670km wall that the Israeli government says it is building to protect citizens from suicide bombers and other attacks by Palestinians.

The campaign claims CRH made €8 million in profit from this last year. Outgoing CRH chairman Kieran McGowan accepted a petition signed by 10,000 people calling on the company to dispose of its interest in Mashav.

He also said Nesher makes cement, which is then sold through distributors to concrete manufacturers, and the company has no control over its end use.

Mr Lee said after the meeting that the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank and Gaza Strip, is also a customer of Nesher. He added the board would consider the petition presented to it at the meeting.

A representative of the Callaghan family, which claims CRH and a rival, Kilsaran, forced its cement business into liquidation in 1986, told the board the family was seeking compensation for this.

He claimed CRH attempted to take a “hidden stake” in the family’s company, and when it was refused took action to ensure it would be put out of business.

The group is defending two High Court actions, by Goode Concrete and Framus, where the plaintiffs are making similar claims.

Mr McGowan told the speaker he could not comment in view of this litigation. CRH maintains the Goode and Framus cases are without foundation.