A 10-month long dispute over redundancy payments between Greencore Irish Sugar and some 145 of its former employees in Mallow looks set to be resolved, with both sides accepting a Labour Court recommendation.
More than 100 former Irish Sugar employees met on Friday and voted to accept a redundancy package based on a court clarification that they would receive 5½ weeks' salary based on their last week's salary for each year of service.
This was followed on Saturday by a Greencore statement in which the company confirmed it would abide fully by the terms of the clarification.
According to Kieran Buckley, chairman of the committee of former Irish Sugar workers, there was overwhelming support among workers at the meeting in Mallow on Friday night for the deal as proposed in the Labour Court recommendation.
"The proposal was overwhelmingly endorsed by the workers, and given that Greencore have issued a statement that they are going to pay the Labour Court clarification, I would be very hopeful that this will mean an end to the dispute," said Mr Buckley.
Although some 324 workers lost their jobs when Irish Sugar closed its plant in Mallow in May 2006, the dispute centred around the payment to 85 permanent and 60 temporary manual staff as all other staff have got their proper redundancy entitlements, he added.
The Labour Court had originally recommended a payment of six weeks of salary per year of service based on the final week's salary.
However, the company had contended that redundancy should be based on six weeks' pay per year of service based on an hourly rate of pay.
The news that a resolution to the dispute appears imminent was warmly welcomed by local Cork East Fianna Fáil TD Ned O'Keeffe, who said it would pave the way for a proposal from Greencore for the development of the sugar factory site in Mallow.
Cork County Council is due to discuss today a variation of the Mallow Area Development Plan which would allow Greencore to proceed with its proposed €500 million development of the site, which the company says will create 2,000 new jobs.
Under the proposal unveiled by Greencore last January, the 398-acre former sugar plant site area will be developed with shops, a business park, a hotel and conference centre and some 1,000 residential units which will attract some 2,500 new residents to the area.