Thermo King issues 460 with protective notice

Thermo King Europe, the Galway-based international refrigeration unit manufacturing company, has issued protective notice to 460 production staff after a dispute with the firm's largest union over the introduction of a four-day week at the plant.

In a statement released last night, the company said that the protective notice had been given to the 460 members of the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union (AEEU).

The company, which employs 530 people in Galway and a further 275 in Dublin and Shannon, became embroiled in a dispute with the union after 650 staff were placed on a four-day week on Monday. The company said it regretted having to take this step, which means that the workers' employment with the firm would be on a day-today basis until further notice. It laid the blame on the union for banning overtime which, it says, is in breach of the company-union agreement.

"Unfortunately, there is no other option available to us in the light of the current circumstances," the company said.

It has also accused AEEU members of "poor performance, lack of co-operation and absenteeism in some departments", and says this has significantly affected management's ability to maintain the supply of product to its customers.

The company said it would keep the situation under constant review and, if it altered, it might be in a position to withdraw the protective notice.

Just a month ago, the company, which makes transport temperature control systems, notified its Galway workforce of a four-day week running for two months in May.

It said this was due to the continuing downturn in the Russian economy.

Thermo King said it consulted with the AEEU on various options, including allowing the workforce access to "floating vacations", as it said that 52 per cent of staff had more than eight days' leave available.

However, the company says no agreement was reached by the time it announced the four-day week.

A fortnight ago, the AEEU held a ballot of the workforce and agreed to ban overtime. The company maintains that this is outside agreed procedures for resolving disputes.

Earlier this week, AEEU representatives accused the company of scare-mongering and said that management had refused to consider a wide range of alternatives proposed by the union as an alternative to short-time working. However, Mr Tony Geoghegan of the AEEU also said that the union would lift its overtime ban if the company suspended the four-day week option.

More than 300 employees at the plant turned up for work early on Monday as a protest, even though management had informed them that they would not be required for seven successive Mondays.

A senior shop steward at the plant, Mr John Carty, said the 492 production staff were unhappy with management's approach. "The workforce are being told that there isn't enough work for us, yet work is being sub-contracted outside the company which we would be able to carry out on Mondays," he said.

The Labour Relations Commission has made itself available for talks, but each side has accused the other of breaching the company's partnership agreement.

Thermo King has also introduced short-time working hours in its plants in the US and Denmark.