Management at Greencore will meet the Labour Court on Monday in an attempt to resolve a dispute between the company and former workers at its Mallow sugar plant in relation to redundancy payments.
Some 145 former Irish Sugar workers say they are owed €3.4 million in redundancy payments following the closure of the Mallow sugar beet factory last May.
The former workers are now attempting to block Greencore's proposed €500 million project to redevelop the 398-acre Mallow West site.
It is understood that some of the former employees have lodged a submission with Cork County Council to oppose the residential element of the development in an attempt to get the company to concede on the redundancy dispute.
Greencore chairman Ned Sullivan said yesterday at the company's agm that it had fully honoured its obligations in line with Labour Court recommendations.
Redundancy cheques had been available to workers since last May with an average redundancy payment of €156,000, he added.
The former employees do not agree with Greencore's interpretation of the Labour Court recommendations and are angry that the average sum they will receive for their service is less than the €200,000 Mr Sullivan received last year for attending eight meetings in his role as chairman.
Mr Sullivan said the next stage of the Labour Court talks, in which it had "somewhat reluctantly" agreed to participate, would "hopefully resolve the issue".
Greencore said it was confident that its planning proposals for its former plants in Mallow and Carlow would be accepted. If they are approved, each developments will create 2,000 jobs.
The Mallow plan includes a hotel, golf course, shops and 1,000 residential units, while the company plans to build a €1.1 billion town centre near Carlow.
Mr Sullivan said the company would not rule out splitting its property interests into a separate company, but it was "too early to speculate". He assured shareholders that any move would be subject to their approval.
The future of Greencore's property assets have been subject to much comment since leading property developer Liam Carroll purchased a 22 per cent stake in the company last summer.
Greencore issued an upbeat trading update yesterday, saying its convenience foods division performed strongly in 2006, with turnover growth of 8.3 per cent and operating profit growth of 5.7 per cent.
The division is its main business since EU sugar reforms made it unprofitable to grow sugar beet in Ireland and sugar production at its plants ceased.
Convenience foods will drive further growth this year, although an electrical fire at Greencore's largest sandwich facility at Manton Wood in December will have a negative impact on its sandwich business.
A judicial review of how the Government should allocate €145.5 million in EU restructuring aid will begin in the High Court on May 1st. Greencore was allocated 70 per cent of this money but believes it is entitled to more.
Greencore's share price closed up 5 cents at €4.55 yesterday, a rise of 1.1 per cent. The company said earnings per share (eps) for 2007 will at least match the current market consensus of 25.6 cents.
