Council considers redeployment of Trim pool staff

Meath County Council is to look at the possibility of redeploying staff at Trim"s existing swimming pool who are being made redundant when the new swimming pool and leisure complex opens in the town next year. There was outrage when it emerged that all staff members at the current Trim swimming pool were being made redundant, some of whom have worked at the local authority facility for more than 20 years. Some 17 staff members, 14 of whom are part-time, are affected by the council"s decision. Navan branch secretary of SIPTU, John Regan, met with Trim town clerk Brian Murphy and Ger Murphy of Meath County Council"s HR department recently and Mr Regan described the meeting as 'positive'. A further meeting is due to take place today (Wednesday). Mr Regan said: 'It was a very positive meeting. The council adjourned the meeting to next Wednesday and, in the meantime, they are going to look at redeployment for staff. All staff members will be putting in their CVs to establish if they can be redeployed.' The SIPTU union official said they had also asked the council to look at voluntary redundancy rather than compulsory redundancy and that the council is to come back to them on this issue. He said they had also stated that the transfer of undertaking regulations means that workers have a legal entitlement to transfer to the new pool and that their terms and conditions also transfer over. 'The council did not make any comment, good or bad, about that and we expect a reply next week,' he said. Mr Regan said he had put forward options and that they had also talked about redeployment of some staff to Kells Swimming Pool. 'They took the options away with them and we will know next Wednesday whether we can get an agreement,' he said. He also said the union had also made it clear to the council that there are issues in dispute regarding the outdoor staff in Trim, Navan and Kells Town Council and 'that nothing is agreed until it is all agreed'. Mr Regan said they have balloted and that, if everything falls through, they will have sanction from the union"s executive to serve notice on the council of industrial action. Meanwhile, Sinn Fein councillor Caroline Lynch said the decision to advertise the pool jobs on both the Aura and www.jobs.ie websites was an 'utter disgrace'. She said: 'At a very minimum, Trim pool staff should have been informed that the jobs were being advertised but the council should have secured these jobs as a condition of tender for the operators of the new pool. 'This is a massive own goal by the council; the people of Trim are delighted to be getting state-of-the art facilities but are abhorred at how the staff are being treated. The pool workers have coached and worked with thousands of local children and this is palpable by the anger amongst parents.' Shop steward Una Daly said it was 'sickening' to see their jobs advertised and that some people had been working in the pool for more than 20 years. She said the council had told them they had no responsibility to get them a new job and said they should have been told long before they were told what was happening. However, she said the council said it would look at the situation again and may consider redeployment of some staff members. 'It"s all up in the air and it is not looking very hopeful,' she added.