Trimfold redundancies dispute to be referred to the Labour Court

A dispute between management and the union over proposed redundancies at Trim manufacturing firm Trimfold has been referred to the Labour Court after sides failed to reach agreement. Trimfold, based in the Eamonn Duggan Industrial Estate on the town's Athboy Road, manufactures envelopes and the company announced last month that it would be shedding 18 jobs because of the company's withdrawal from the UK market where it could no longer compete. The redundancies are proposed on a voluntary basis but it is expected the company will go down the route of compulsary redundancies if the voluntary redundancies are not filled. It is understood that Trimfold is offering statutory redundancy, which is two weeks' pay per year of service. Meath SIPTU branch secretary John Regan said that a conciliation conference had taken place under the auspices of the LRC and that it was agreed to refer the matter onto the Labour Court for hearing. It could take several weeks before a hearing date will be secured, though Mr Regan said they had sought an urgent date. He said: "The company is still only advocating statutory redundancy which is just two weeks' per year of service, which is totally unacceptable. They are also targeting the terms and conditions of employment of the remaining employees such as removing paid breaks and moving to a 39-hour week from a 40-hour week, which will mean six less days leave." Mr Regan also said SIPTU is disputing the number of redundancies and that the union had proposed a two-cycle shift arrangement which would remove the night shift, that they also suggested additional training to improve efficiency and had brought in additional customers. "We are looking at different ways of offsetting the savings they are trying to make," added Mr Regan.