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Dublin: 16 °C Monday 20 May, 2013

Vita Cortex workers set for talks at Labour Relations Commission

Representatives of the 32 staff – whose sit-in enters its 90th day today – will attend talks at the LRC beginning today.

Image: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

THE FORMER WORKERS at the Vita Cortex foam manufacturing plant will today attend talks at the Labour Relations Commission aimed at ending their three-month dispute with their former employer.

Representatives for the 32 employees will resume talks at the LRC today, after an original session of talks broke down six weeks ago.

The talks will hope to offer a breakthrough in the dispute, which has seen the 32 staff sit-in at the plant for 89 days.

The workers had last week described the resumption of LRC talks as “an extremely positive step towards bringing about a just and equitable resolution”.

In a post on their Facebook page this morning, the workers said that spending one day “living in a cold closed-down factory” was too many, and that the length of their own protest was a “damning indictment of Irish company law and the system that created it”.

Today’s talks will not include Vita Cortex owner Jack Ronan. Previous discussions mediated by IBEC, and including Ronan, ended without agreement when SIPTU rejected a compensation offer made by Ronan as “derisory”.

The workers are seeking redundancy payments of 0.9 weeks per year of service, on top of their statutory entitlements – a deal they say is equivalent to payments made to workers who left the company in 2009 and 2010.

This would bring the total redundancy package to €370,000 – a payment that Ronan says he cannot meet.

The workers have received pledges of support from a number of public figures including Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, former Irish international footballer Paul McGrath, actor Cillian Murphy and scholar Noam Chomsky.

In full: TheJournal.ie‘s coverage of the Vita Cortex dispute >

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Comments (9 Comments)

  • If they stay there any longer they’ll be entitled to a redundancy payment on the sit in . Tough lads

    Reply
  • Let’s hope this week jack Ronan does the honourable thing and pays his workers for the 847 years of combined service they’ve given to himself and his father in law mr Mchenry.On behalf of every decent employer,employee and taxpayer in Ireland we salute the vita cortex workers for refusing to be abused by the manipulation of company laws by ridiculously wealthy employers.Lets hope it shows us all to have the courage to stand up against injustice and not be told to simply sit down and accept mistreatment at the hands of those who think that wealth and friends in high places gives them the right to walk away with our hard earned money and engineer a situation where the social fund covers debts that employers are perfectly able to pay.People like these workers will restore the faith that hard and loyal work is indeed respected in this country.Irish people have such great reputations abroad for being honourable hardworking employers and employees,thanks to the vita workers our reputation for honest and fair business practice may just be saved for future generations by their refusal to slip away quietly into the night.

    Reply
  • Yeah that’s how I read it too Amy ,which is why I gave rubberbandaid a thumbs up.

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  • Best of luck to you all. I hope these talks are more positive.

    You’re a great bunch of people and you all deserve the best. The photograph shows the stress and tiredness in your faces. I hope this is the end and that these people see that the workers deserve the best. Hopefully, after all this, you all can just relax and take it handy for a few weeks.

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  • OK But a relative of mine is on that protest thats why I ask that Question.

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    • Don’t worry Frankie ,there’s a reason people don’t use their real names lol,I generally take that to mean there’s not much substance to the comment,I read it differently tho ,I thought rubber band was being supportive because I as someone very close to the situation agree that they should be paid extra for all the time they’ve been made to fight for their rights and fair treatment so I gave him a thumbs up.

      Reply
    • He’s saying they’re tough, what’s wrong with that?

      Reply

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