Green Isle dispute settled

A HUNGER strike at a frozen food factory in Co Kildare has been called off after workers reached a financial settlement with their employers.

Three workers who went on hunger strike after a dispute at the Green Isle Foods factory in Naas, Co Kildare, agreed to cease their fasts after compensation was agreed for three workers who were sacked last summer.

Jim Wyse, shop steward at the plant, had been surviving on water and salt for 15 days and he was joined by former Offaly footballer John Guinan last week.

On Wednesday, John Recto from the Philippines, who was one of the men sacked, also joined the hunger strike.

The three men voted yesterday, along with other Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) workers to accept an agreement brokered through independent mediators in the last few days.

“The agreement will be implemented and, accordingly, all forms of industrial action and other activity will cease with immediate effect,” a joint statement said.

It said both parties were bound by confidentiality under the terms of the mediation agreement. The statement acknowledged the efforts involved in reaching the agreement.

Mr Recto, who has been living here for eight years, has been left in an unsure position. When he tried to renew his work visa recently he was called to a Garda station. His and his wife’s immigration cards were confiscated.