Christmas dinners eaten while manning the barricades

SIPTU has called on Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, to investigate the circumstances surrounding the closure of the Lagan Brick factory near Kingscourt, to ascertain whether the company adhered to legalisation governing compulsory redundancies. Workers at the plant have been manning a vigil outside the former Kingscourt Brick premises over Christmas, with some of them eating their Christmas dinner at the barricades. They are preventing the movement of goods in or out of the plant until a resolution of their situation is reached. The former employees are manning the gates on six-hour shifts of three men per shift. Manning the gates yesterday (Tuesday) morning were James Smith, Simon Martin and Gerry White. "We have been receiving great support from the people of the town - 100 per cent support," Mr Smith said. "They have been coming up to see if we needed tea or food, and two of the men ate their Christmas dinners here. It's very hard on those who have children to be away from their families over Christmas, but we feel we have been treated so badly by the company that we have to take a stance." The two men's wives brought up their Christmas meals to them at the gates where they are keeping warm with a fire in a barrel. Supporters have also been delivering fuel for the fire. "We were only given half an hour's notice that our jobs were gone, and weren't even brought in to be told. The shop stewards were told and then we got a letter on the Saturday before Christmas. We are going to continue this until we get a proper package," he said. Worker representatives at the construction material manufacturing plant were informed it was closing only hours before it ceased operation on Friday 15th December, with the loss of 27 jobs. SIPTU organiser John Regan said: "At 4.30pm on Thursday 14th December, the management called in the company's two shop stewards and informed them that the plant was closing the following day and that a letter had been sent to employees informing them of this decision. "Worker representatives sought an immediate meeting with the company and SIPTU met with management at the company's office in Kinnegad. At that meeting, the management informed us it had written to the minister, Richard Bruton, notifying him of its decision to implement compulsory redundancies." Mr Regan added: "SIPTU takes issue with this process as it contravenes the Protection of Employment Act which obliges an employer to enter into a consultation process with workers' representatives at least 30 days before a notice of redundancy is given. The aim of the consultation is to consider whether there are any alternatives to the redundancies." Mr Regan has insisted that the company is in breach of the 30-day notice period by failing to inform them of his decision. SIPTU has written to the minister calling on him to undertake an investigation into the circumstances surrounding these redundancies. The union official went on: "In February, the management informed us that it intended to undertake major capital investment in the plant. This investment failed to materialise and it is our position that the plant's closure is solely due to the management's failure to meet this commitment." The company said in a statement that it sincerely regretted having to make the decision to close, especially at this time of year, but that deferral of the decision until the New Year simply was not an option. Lagan said it tried every avenue possible over the course of the last number of months to retain the viability of the business, including proposing a pay reduction to employees, which was rejected. Now, the prevailing economic circumstances and continued downturn in the construction sector has left no option but to close, it said. The company added it had entered into a 30-day formal consultation process with employee representatives over the terms of the redundancies.