Labour Court makes Peerless recommendation
ATHY, 11 July 2001: by Brian Byrne. The Labour Court has recommended that the employees of Peerless Rugs in Athy each be given three weeks' pay per year of service in addition to the statutory redundancy offered by the company.
In the recommendation, the court's chairman Finbar Flood also said that as the company had failed to provide - as agreed - the financial figures to the SIPTU union, and the fact of a claim that the parent company, Reflond Group, was moving production to a sister plant in Cork, 'the question of a restructuring rather than an insolvency situation arises'.
He said the court had not been provided with any evidence to substantiate the company's financial position, and that the union claimed that figures for 1999 and 2000 indicated 'a company trading successfully'.
The company did not have a representative at the hearing. The receiver appointed to the company did attend but was not in a position to outline the financial situation of Peerless Rugs.
The union also claimed that the sister plant in Cork had recently begun manufacturing products similar to those produced in Athy. In its arguments, SIPTU said it believed this production will expand after the Athy closure allowing Reflond 'to continue to benefit whilst the workforce is left jobless'.
There are 65 workers at Peerless, with an average service to the company of 22 years. Last week they locked the management in the factory during a protest about the compensation offered for closure.
©2001brianbyrne/knn