More than half of the 720 workers to lose their jobs at Meta contractor Covalen will receive no redundancy pay because they have been with the company for less than two years.
The Communications Workers Union (CWU), which represents a minority of the staff involved, has accused the company of rushing the consultation process to push the number who receive no severance pay from about 400 to almost 460.
Staff at the company, a subsidiary of CPL, which conducts content moderation and other work for the social media giant, were told last week that more than a third of the jobs at its Sandyford headquarters were to go. The announcement came days after Meta said it would be shedding some 8,000 jobs, or 10 per cent of its global workforce, as it seeks to use artificial intelligence to perform more of the roles involved.
Meta directly employs about 1,800 people in Ireland, but many more than that perform outsourced roles for the multinational via contractors.
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Though pay and conditions at Meta are regarded as good, many of the staff at Covalen are on a basic income of €32,000 a year. Those in content moderation roles watch and remove videos that breach Meta’s policies, which is generally considered to be gruelling work.
Workers from the company staged a small protest outside the Dáil on Wednesday as they pursue an intervention from the Government. They handed a letter setting out their case to the Department of Employment.
Their representatives contend that the company suggested the consultation process started on the day the staff were informed of the impending job losses. However, the union, which represents about 300 staff, says the required 30-day process should not have started until staff representatives were elected, which took several days.
“You can’t consult with representatives that don’t exist,” said one of the elected representatives on Thursday.
They have accused the company of seeking to move so quickly because a significant number of people were hired in the summer of 2024 – almost 60 would lose out on redundancy payments if the current timetable was followed.
The company has said it will pay only statutory, or legally required minimum, redundancy. For staff with at least two full years of service, the sum is set at two weeks’ pay per year, plus one week, with a cap on the value of the week’s pay for the purposes of the calculation of €600.
Those involved in the process say Covelan and parent company CPL, a recruitment firm, are helping to identify potential new roles for staff, both inside and outside the group. But the company has been criticised for the terms on offer to those who lose their positions.
TDs Richard Boyd Barrett, Paul Murphy and Marie Sherlock addressed the protest outside the Dáil on Thursday, describing the failure to offer enhanced severance terms as “despicable” and stating that the Government should exert influence to have the company improve the offer.
“CPL has a lot of public contracts,” said Boyd Barrett. “The Government should be cracking the whip.”
CWU members are to stage a strike on Friday, May 15th. Covalen was approached for comment.
