IT WAS the end of an era in Cork city yesterday as the port authority parted company with casual dockers.
Ninety-three jobs have been cut at Cork port after dockers accepted a voluntary redundancy package.
The workers have accepted the rationalisation package as part of a modernisation drive.
Management at the port stressed that the deal was vital to secure the future competitiveness of the facility, particularly given the current economic challenges.
The Cork Dockers Number Five Siptu branch voted this month to accept proposals to modernise working arrangements at the facility.
From now on the work of the dockers in loading and unloading cargo from ships coming into the city will be carried out by contracted stevedores.
Many of the workers who finished work yesterday had been employed at Cork port for in the region of 30 to 50 years, with some having followed their fathers into the job.
A spokesman for the workers said: “It is an end of an era. The manual work was very hard through the years. We had a walk of maybe 20 or 30 feet with a 56lb box of butter. But it was great money. Going back 25 to 26 years ago we had £100 a day. But it was damn hard work. You worked from eight in the morning till 10 at night.
“The reason why the money was so good was because you might only get one, two or three days a week. If I had my life over I would do it all again.”