A Nenagh company is being urged to intervene in a dispute at a subsidiary in Northern Ireland.
Workers from VistaTherm in Lurgan are into their 5th week of strike action with unions claiming they have refused to engage with the workforce who are trying to negotiate a cost-of-living pay increase.
Staff from the Lagan plant will hold a protest outside the Carey Glass headquarters at Stereame in Nenagh this afternoon and hand in a letter to CEO Jim Carey.
Unite Regional Officer Neil Moore is hoping that intervention from Nenagh may help to resolve the situation.
“Quite a bizarre reaction from the sister company of Carey Glass – VistaTherm – not engaging with the union whatsoever. In fact there’s been numerous appeals from the workforce and Unite to the company to engage through the WRC equivalent in the North, the Labour Relations Agency and for direct meetings and all of those have fallen on deaf ears.”
Neil Moore also told Tipp FM that the dispute is not just about pay.
“It’s also about respect and dignity at work. We’ve received some quite horrific reports from our members about how they’re mistreated in the workplace, allegations of bullying and harassment, major health and safety concerns.
“Unfortunately the response to that from the company has been to ignore us and our members are now down to protest at the sister company and appeal to the Carey family – the owners of VistaTherm – to intervene directly with local management (in Lurgan) that are making a mess of this situation.”
The protest is due to be held between 1.30 and 3.30 this afternoon
