The trade union Mandate has served strike notice on the 4Home DIY store group, after talks on a redundancy package for workers in three Cork stores broke down.
Talks facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission broke down yesterday evening, the union said.
Mandate regional organiser Lorraine O’Brien said today that following the breakdown of the LRC talks, the union had served strike notice on the company and would place pickets on 4Home stores from September 1st.
She said the “vast majority” of the workers concerned wanted to retain their jobs. However, the union recognised that as part of the company’s restructuring plan, there would have to be some redundancies.
The workers were seeking a package of 6.6 weeks salary per year of service, in line with a redundancy package agreed in 2006. The company, however, was offering only statutory redundancy terms, she said. Ms O'Brien said she did not believe the company had come to the talks "in good faith".
Earlier talks between the union and the company took place following a sit-in by 16 staff at the Mitchelstown store this month. The workers held the sit-in after they were given two days’ notice of the planned closure of stores in Fermoy and Limerck with the loss of all 16 jobs.
The planned closure of the Mitchelstown store would have brought the total number of job losses to 40, but that store remained open for business as the talks got underway. Staff were told they would receive statutory redundancy of two weeks’ pay per year, along with notice payments.
The sit-in was called off on August 14th after management and Mandate agreed to meet to discuss their differences.
Those talks broke down on August 17th and the dispute was taken up by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).
Mandate said the three stores were closed for trade, but that staff were working "behind closed doors" to carry out stocktaking for the proposed restructuring.
A spokesman for the company said it had made clear that trading conditions had been difficult in recent times and that those details had been outlined before the LRC.
He said discussions were taking place that would hopefully put in place arrangements for Dairygold to take over the business of the seven remaining 4Home stores. This was unconnected to Dairygold’s 25 per cent ownership of Reox Holdings, the partent company of 4Home, he said.
On the strike action planned by Mandate, the spokesman said: “We find it regrettable and counter-productive.” He said given the serious situation in which the company found itself and that fact that other jobs were involved “we would be anxious that they would not be putting any of those other jobs at risk”.
Labour Party spokesman on agriculture and food Sean Sherlock said the board members of Dairygold should lend their support to the workers by endorsing an improved redundancy package.
The Cork-East TD said the board members had a duty of care toward the 4home employees “who laboured under the Dairygold brand up until just three years ago when Reox holdings took over management of the 4home stores”.
“The bottom line is that the majority of these workers put in most of their service under the Dairygold brand. However, they are not benefiting from the same severance package as other Dairygold workers who were recently made redundant yet all have paid into the same Dairygold pension scheme.”
Mr Sherlock said it seemed to him that management at Dairygold was “hiding behind these spin-off companies in a bid to avoid meeting their obligations to workers”.
“They are giving the impression that all their spin off companies which include Reox Holdings are separate entities which is simply not the case.”