The Labour Party has intervened in a dispute at a Co Kildare building products firm accusing it of operating like Irish Ferries.
Sixteen workers were laid off at Doyle Concrete in Rathangan in December and the firm closed last week with the loss of a further six jobs. However, three non-union workers went to work for its sister firm, Steelite, which is based at the same location.
Siptu claims the workers who were laid off were those with longer length of service, while those retained at Steelite were employed on inferior wages. The company says the three workers had applied for the jobs at Steelite, which it says is "a separate family business".
Labour Party enterprise, trade and employment spokesman Brendan Howlin today said his party was disturbed by the company's refusal to abide by a Labour Court recommendation that the redundancies be voluntary. The court also recommended the lay-offs be on a last-in-first-out basis.
"The company was correctly accused at the time of acting like Irish Ferries. What is happening at Doyle Concrete is part of a wider pattern of displacement of workers employed at standard conditions and their replacement by lower paid workers," Mr Howlin said.
Mr Howlin and some of his party colleagues are to meet workers and their union representatives tomorrow at Leinster House.
Catherine Marshall managing director at Doyle Concrete said it was "disingenuous" to compare the situation to Irish Ferries and blamed the union for the closure.
She said a six-and-a-half week strike last year had cost the company its customer base during difficult trading conditions. The company was unable to retrieve its market share and was therefore forced to close, she added.
"I am shocked that they are going right back to stir things up again, involving a completely separate company. They are doing this for their own tactical purposes and are now putting 44 more jobs at risk [at Steelite]," Ms Marshall said.
Siptu has organised a protest march through Rathangan on March 4 th.
There was considerable controversy last year when Irish Ferries attempted to lay-off all its crewmen, re-flag its vessels and replace them with low wage foreign workers. The issue threatened to scupper talks on a new national wage agreement.