Call for Element Six to discuss staff deal

THE “SHANNON Management Team” at diamond manufacturer Element Six has written to the group’s London-based chief executive, Cyrus Jilla, calling on him to urgently engage with workers on a redundancy deal on offer by the company.

The terms of the deal are preventing any progress being made between the company and staff on the survival plan for the Shannon plant.

Yesterday, Siptu and the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) began balloting for industrial action in response to the terms of the redundancy deal on offer for 207 workers. The ballot will continue today, and a result is expected this afternoon.

Siptu shop steward Murdoch Gleeson said yesterday: “There has been an overwhelming turnout so far. Employees have come in from their holidays to vote.”

Siptu branch organiser Mary O’Donnell said: “It is unfair to make those who gave the most to the company in terms of commitment, hard work and long service the least compensation. A decent package is all the more necessary in the present economic climate.”

TEEU regional secretary Pat Keane said: “We cannot have meaningful discussions on the survival plan for the plant until we know the basis on which the majority of workers will be losing their jobs.”

The unions began their ballot yesterday after talks between Element Six general manager Ken Sullivan and the unions on Wednesday failed to reach agreement on the rescue plan.

Mr Sullivan, along with a small number of colleagues, has put together a survival plan that will save 163 jobs at the firm.

However, a letter from all other management grades numbering 46 managers at the plant has told Mr Jilla that the plan to rationalise the Shannon operation “has resulted in a breakdown in trust between Element Six and its employees, which will be a significant obstacle to the successful implementation of our sustainability plan”.

In the letter signed by the “Shannon Management Team”, they say the effects of the rationalisation plan are damaging to the reputation of Element Six as a supplier and a strategic partner, while opening doors to the company’s competitors.

“We have a plan for a long-term, sustainable operation in Shannon. In order to minimise further disruptions to the business, we believe that it is imperative that the company engages, urgently, in meaningful discussions with the Shannon workforce that must include the severance package to achieve a resolution as quickly as possible.”