WORKERS AT a foam packaging plant in Cork city who have been engaged in a sit-in over redundancy payments since December 16th yesterday spoke of the strain placed on their loved ones from the failure of management to resolve the dispute.
Thirty-two workers at Vita Cortex in Ballyphehane are employing a rota system to ensure staff members are always on site at the plant. Siptu is calling on Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton and IBEC to intervene in the dispute.
Siptu organiser Anne Egar said workers had been treated in an “appalling” manner. “They have been treated in this manner by people who can well afford to pay them what they owe them. There were elements in Nama who were trying to do their best but didn’t succeed. There is the Minister for Employment who has said nothing. He hasn’t put any real pressure on the company to behave themselves.”
Young father of one and Vita Cortex worker Barry Buckley from Hollyhill in Cork has recounted his sadness at missing out on Christmas with his 17-month-old son Colin.
“I was able to see him [Colin] on Christmas morning. I missed New Year’s Eve because I was out here that night.
“I missed the celebrations. I am spoiling my girlfriend Helena’s Christmas. It is the worry of mortgages and stuff like that. Will I have to get rid of my car? It is tough.
“I bought a house in the boom – at the worst possible time. Just with the monthly payments it is starting to get scary.”
A special solidarity protest at the plant yesterday was attended by Marian McCabe from Togher in Cork, whose daughter Catherine (26) and son Kevin (35) were both employed by Vita Cortex. Ms McCabe says she is trying to keep their spirits up but her son and daughter are finding the sit-in difficult as it continues with no visible result.
“They are down, as you would imagine. Kevin is staying there from 12 to eight and Catherine is doing from eight to four so they are like ships that pass in the night.
“Who would have thought I would be visiting my son and daughter at Vita Cortex on Christmas morning? They are like the living dead. They are in limbo.”
Jim Power, an employee with over 40 years service at Vita Cortex, was joined by a number of his family members at the plant yesterday at lunchtime.
Four weeks ago Jim’s daughter Amanda gave birth to a baby son James. Mr Power says young James attended a Mass at the Vita Cortex plant on Christmas Day.
“He has been one of our youngest protesters. I got to spend two hours with James yesterday and it is about three days since I saw him. He looked so big in the space of three days. If this had been a normal Christmas I would have been looking forward to going back to work tomorrow instead of spending the last few weeks here.”
Employees want a €1.2 million redundancy package – 2.9 weeks per year of service for each worker. Workers have previously described as insulting an offer from Vita Cortex of a payment of €1,500 each and two weeks’ wages.
Vita Cortex staff engaged in the sit-in say they are “truly touched and motivated” by the messages of support from the public which have flooded in via Facebook.
Siptu has also taken the decision to escalate the dispute to achieve what they term a “just outcome” for the workers and their families.
Siptu said they had expressed a “resolute desire to maintain the protest until company officials make adequate and definite provision to meet their obligations concerning the outstanding redundancy payments”.
The staff involved in the protest have worked a total of 847 years with the company. They have been told the money required for their redundancies had been frozen in the accounts of a sister company controlled by Nama.
Nama said it understands the frustration of employees of Vita Cortex and it fully empathises with them but unfortunately legally it cannot simply use charged deposit funds pledged against loans of one company to meet costs incurred by a separate legal entity.