Deputy Michael Finucane gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the ongoing industrial dispute at the Anglo-Irish Meat Processors in Rathkeale. The Deputy has ten minutes to present his case and the Minister or the Minister of State has five minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - County Limerick Plant Industrial Dispute.
I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this matter. I have raised many times what I consider to be a serious problem in my constituency. Anglo-Irish Meat Processors in Rathkeale was founded in the early fifties and was known as Shannon Meats. The company are involved in the slaughtering of animals and the boning and canning of meat. In late 1987 the company were taken over by Anglo-Irish Meat Processors Limited. The takeover at that time also included 80 acres and plant and stocks. It was a profitable venture at the time of the takeover. The factory is important to the area as it employes about 150 people.
About 120 of those workers are currently affected by the industrial dispute which mainly centres around the slaughtering and boning activities. As the workers are all members of SIPTU, the workers involved in canning are also involved. The main issue is a bonus system which the company are trying to change to a piece works system. The existing bonus system has operated for a considerable time and the workers have been pleased with the operation of this scheme. The workers already lost concessions they had in the past such as service pay and Christmas bonuses. It is interesting to note that during the peak killing period from August to December last year the bonus scheme operated effectively. However, it emerged as a contentious issue again in recent times, when the employees in the slaughtering plant were on a two-day week and the management tried to establish the new piece work scheme. This was opposed by the workers and hence the dispute which has been going on now for the past six weeks.
Considerable hardship has been experienced by the workers. The strength of feeling among the workers has been illustrated in that they have maintained a 24 hour picket outside the plant during the inclement weather of the past six weeks. I have been informed that recent discussions have broken down and it seems that senior management, particularly those in head office of the Anglo-Irish Meats Processors Limited, Dundalk, are being intransigent. The people from the Rathkeale area have shown great solidarity with the workers because of the importance of the factory to the community and the agricultural hinterland.
I call on the Minister to use his good offices to see if he can initiate a breakthrough in this dispute to enable normality to return to the Anglo-Irish Meat Processors Limited plant in Rathkeale. I thank the Minister for his attendance in the House this evening to reply to this matter.
I thank Deputy Finucane for raising this matter on the Adjournment. He has endeavoured to raise it on the Adjournment for some days and during the time the Department have kept up to date with, I am sorry to say the lack of developments in this dispute. I would not disagree with most of the facts Deputy Finucane has given. As is normal in these disputes, we have received data from both sides.
The dispute at Anglo-Irish Meat Processors Limited which includes, as the Deputy said, Shannon Meats Limited in Rathkeale, commenced on 5 February 1990. The company notified the union, SIPTU, that they needed to restructure the bonus scheme which has not been altered for 15 years. As the Deputy has stated, discussions took place throughout 1989 to try to make some movement on this issue. I understand this bonus scheme was intended as an incentive for production achievements. The company had been trying since late 1988 to achieve progress on this issue and had indicated they would remove the scheme from that date. The union requested the company in January 1989 to refrain from removing the bonus scheme in order to allow discussions to take place. I am sure the company believe that the discussions during 1989 did not progress at a satisfactory rate and the workers believed they were being asked to give too much.
About 120 people are employed in the operations and I understand that not all are directly affected by the bonus scheme. From discussions I have had I understand the number of workers involved ranges from 20 to 30 and the money involved ranges from £30 to £50 per individual, which is a significant reduction in weekly earnings.
As no progress was made at the negotiations which took place during February, the Labour Court became involved in the dispute. The proposals which emerged from the Labour Court conciliation discussions which took place on 7 February 1990 were rejected by the workers. A further conciliation conference took place last week, on 6 March, but unfortunately this dispute has remained unresolved. I am sorry to have to report that very little progress was made at these discussions. The conciliation officer involved endeavoured to find common ground but could not find any at that stage.
I have been keeping in touch with developments in the dispute and I discussed the matter with my colleagues in the Labour Court conciliation service during the week. The industrial relations section of my Department have been in touch with both sides but to date no substantial progress has been made. I have not been waiting for action to be taken but have been pursuing this matter as far as I could. Since I was last in communication with both sides they have made very little progress on which to build.
As we are all well aware a prolonged dispute can have long-term detrimental effects and put jobs at risk. The effects of this dispute will not be any different. I should like to take this opportunity to urge both parties involved in the dispute to enter into meaningful discussions. Of course, the services of the court remain available to both parties. I understand the difficulties which have been outlined by Deputy Finucane. His constituency colleagues and people from the locality have also been in contact with me in regard to this dispute. I want to assure the Deputy, so that he can assure the people involved, that the conciliation service and, in particular, the conciliation officer who has been involved in this dispute from the outset, will be available at short notice if there are any indications by either party that they want to enter into meaningful discussions. I contacted the conciliation officer today and he has indicated that he will be ready to take part in meaningful discussions as soon as there is an indication from anybody that they wish to make some progress in this dispute. I should like to see an early resolution to this dispute but discussions will have to be entered into first.
I want to avail of this opportunity to ask both sides in the dispute to consider the hardship which may arise for the 120 people employed in the plants and the effects the loss of these jobs will have on the business of Anglo-Irish Meat Processors Limited generally and the local community. I urge both sides to return to the negotiating table. I can assure the Deputy that the conciliation officer will be available at short notice to enter into discussions.