SIPTU members conducting a 48-hour strike action at Milne Foods in Birr, County Offaly, have called on politicians to demand that the company, which has a number of contracts to supply State bodies, implement a Labour Court recommendation in relation to workers' conditions of employment. The current strike action began at 6.30 a.m. on Tuesday, 6th August, with a picket placed on the company’s plant on the Syngefield Industrial Estate in Birr. It follows a stoppage in early July and a 48-hour stoppage at the beginning of August. SIPTU Organiser, Michael Browne, said: “The workers have been left with no option but to take industrial action after they exhausted all other avenues open to them to initiate constructive dialogue with the management at Milne Foods. This company is in receipt of State funds from contracts to supply publicly funded bodies including a number of Health Service Executive hospitals. However, management is refusing to honour a Labour Court recommendation or even meet with workers’ representatives." He added: “It has become clear that the company has no intention of implementing the Labour Court recommendation that the workers' pay claims should be met. It is now up to politicians to state their position on a company which maintains a number of public contracts but refuses to recognise the State’s own industrial relations mechanisms. The workers will continue their campaign of industrial action until management deal with them in a reasonable manner.”
Striking workers at Milne Foods call for political intervention in dispute
