Workers at a Co Kildare plant are to begin industrial action tomorrow over an incident in which several workers lost their jobs.
The Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) said up to 40 of its members at Green Isle Foods in Naas, Co Kildare, and ESS, a subcontractor at the plant, are involved in the action. It said workers are protesting the sacking of seven members over alleged misconduct, claiming that the company will not negotiate a "fair disciplinary process" with the union to deal with the cases.
However, in a statement, the company said although it had been threatened with industrial action, it had not been formally notified when it would take place and said production would continue as normal while efforts were made to reach a "reasonable and sensible conclusion".
It said less than 30 of its workers were involved in the industrial action.
Conflicting reports have emerged about the cause of the dispute.
The TEEU says the issue arose after an employee was mistakenly sent a file last year by a senior manager that contained restructuring proposals, which would have resulted in seven of its members lose their jobs. The employee shared that information with a small number of staff some months later, the union said.
The company became aware that the file had been accessed in March, and said that a number of its own employees and those of subcontractor ESS must sign a confidentiality document confirming they had accessed the file and face suspension. The union says employees were told more severe disciplinary action would result if they failed to sign the document.
"This is a clear case of trying to make ordinary employees pay for sloppy management security procedures", the TEEU's General Secretary Designate Eamon Devoy said today.
"The union accepts there is a problem that needs to be addressed and has offered to discuss ways of doing so but Green Isle seems determined to use it to pursue an anti-union agenda."
Employees were advised by the union not to engage in the disciplinary process until it could establish that the company would allow employees to be represented at hearings and would follow fair procedures.
However, the company says the decision was taken to dismiss three employees following an investigation into improper use of the company’s IT system.
"The investigation was initiated after management learned of concerns that serious adult and other inappropriate material was contained on the company's IT network," Green Isle said in a statement.
"As a result of the intensive investigation, a number of individuals were found to have possibly breached the company's email and internet policy. In each of these cases, investigation and disciplinary meetings were held by Green Isle.
"Following this, a decision was taken to dismiss three employees from the business. Each of the dismissed employees availed of the company's appeal process and after consideration of the facts in each of the three cases, the dismissal decisions were upheld."
The TEEU says the company, which employs over 650 people, was offered conciliation talks at the Labour Relations Commission with the union, but has hired "strike breakers" to carry out work usually performed by TEEU members.