Siptu workers at Bord na Móna Recycling have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in a bid to prevent the sale of the business.
Bord na Móna announced earlier this month it had reached an agreement to sell its recycling business to KWD Recycling, subject to regulatory approval. The company said that while the business will no longer be part of the Bord na Móna group employees will continue to work for the recycling business with no change to their contractual terms and conditions of employment on handover.
However, Siptu workers at the company expressed concerted opposition and agreed to a ballot on strike action aimed at preventing the sale. The result of that ballot has now been announced, with Siptu claiming 95 per cent in favour of strike action and five against.
Siptu divisional organiser, Adrian Kane, said: ”Our members are clear in their aim of protecting the last remaining publicly-owned domestic waste-collection service.”
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He said “the attempt to sell off Bord na Móna Recycling was done behind the backs of its workers”.
“It is a bad deal for them, the country and the future of waste collection in Ireland. It also raises serious questions concerning the future of the semi-state sector in Ireland. Bord na Móna as an enterprise drove the economic development of the midlands for generations, it was meant to be central to a so-called ‘just transition’ for workers into a new greener economy.”
Mr Kane added: “We need a forward-facing domestic waste collection sector which places environmental concerns at its centre, not one driven purely by profit, which will result in the longer term to increased costs for customers, mounting environmental damage and removes the State from a key economic sector.”
