THE 32 workers made redundant by the Vita Cortex foam manufacturing firm in Cork yesterday rejected an offer of €1,500 from the company and vowed to continue their sit-in at the plant over Christmas until they get proper redundancy payments.
They have been occupying the plant on the Kinsale Road since December 16th.
One worker, Jim Power, told Cork’s 96FM that the management’s offer to pay them €1,500 each to vacate the plant over the holidays merely added insult to injury, and that they would continue their sit-in over Christmas Day and beyond.
“It doesn’t matter whether you are [here] 42 years or 42 months, you’re still being offered the same amount of €1,500,” he said of the proposal, which was made in writing yesterday morning.
“ It’s a paltry amount of money – and all so we’d leave the premises for Christmas and come back after Christmas. They’re taking us for fools,” Mr Power added.
In a statement yesterday, Vita Cortex management said the payment proposal was part of a deal being offered following meetings between management, employees and their union, Siptu.
Management said the offer of €1,500, along with the payment to workers of their last week’s wages plus an ex-gratia payment of another week’s wages, was aimed at easing the financial difficulties for them at Christmas time.
The company said that in exchange, workers would cease their sit-in to allow the firm remove certain materials and tools so that jobs in their customers’ factories would not be put under threat due to their inability to meet orders.
“If the employees wish to resume their sit-in after Christmas, the company guarantees that the doors will be open and no impediment will be put in their way,” said the company.
However, another worker, Cal O’Leary, said the group of 32 staff, who have a combined service totalling 847 years, were determined to continue with their sit-in for as long as it took to get proper redundancy payments.
Yesterday as, in a gesture of solidarity, members of Cork City Fire Brigade delivered breakfasts to the occupying workers, Mr Power said they had drawn up rosters that would allow younger workers to return home for a few hours on Christmas Day to be with their children.
Vita Cortex, which also has operations in Athlone and Belfast, announced on September 16th last that it was closing the Cork plant, saying it had been making substantial losses since 2009 and there was no prospect of a return to profitability.
The company said it decided to close the Cork plant because the level of losses were threatening the viability of its remaining plants in Athlone and Belfast, which together employ a further 70 staff.
However, the plan ran into problems when Vita Cortex announced it did not have the funds to make redundancy payments because a sister company’s assets were now in Nama. The firms said it would be seeking to obtain payments for workers from the Social Insurance Fund.
Workers asked Nama to release €2.5 million frozen in a company account on foot of a €10 million loan from AIB that has ended up in Nama.
However Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh said the redundancy issue was a matter for the owners of Vita Cortex.