Coke strike 'a danger to 1,100 jobs'

The drinks distribution and bottling company Coca-Cola HBC has warned that the current dispute with the trade union Siptu over out-sourcing of around 130 jobs could jeopardise the livelihoods of around 1,100 other employees.

The move came as Siptu said that it was seeking an all-out picket in the seven- week- long dispute. The union also said today that it was seeking the intervention of the National Implementation Body, the main trouble-shooting mechanism under social partnership.

A union delegation also met with the Minister for Labour Affairs, Dara Calleary to brief him on the dispute.

The row centres on moves by the company to out-source around 130 jobs in distribution in various centres around the county.

Siptu says that the 130 workers were sacked after they refused to accept new terms which could have seen their pay reduced by up to 60 per cent.

Coca-Cola HBC Ireland has urged Siptu to re-engage in talks to agree a fair and equitable redundancy package for the staff concerned and to display consideration for the remaining 1,100 personnel in the company.

The company said it was surprised at Siptu's continued attempts to escalate the dispute over the level of redundancy payment on offer.

It said it had offered workers a package involving a payment of seven weeks per year of service. It said this would mean packages for some staff of up to €180,000 with an average of €90,000 per person. It said that this was far in excess of current industry norms. This was denied by Siptu. It said that the majority of workers would receive between €10,000 and €45,000”, he said..

Siptu maintained that the company had rejected Labour Court settlement terms in the dispute.

Siptu divisional organiser Gerry McCormack said that there was currently no redundancy offer as the company had taken it off the table and told its members that they would be getting statutory redundancy when they were sacked on the picket line on September 8th.

Coca-Cola HBC managing director Gokhan Bilgic said: "Siptu's irresponsible and reckless campaign to damage our company will only serve to jeopardise the livelihoods of the remaining 1,100 employees and the countless businesses and suppliers that work with us across the country."

Addressing the protest in Dublin yesterday Siptu President Jack O’Connor said that the intervention of the National Implementation Body would mean that Ibec,"which has looked the other way up to now in the dispute, having to say whether it (favours) the constitutional way of doing business or whether it wanted to give the powerful the opportunity to do what they liked with ordinary workers".

He said he had asked several trade unions around the world to inform their members of the treatment of the workers by Coca-Cola HBC "and to think before they drink".