Greyhound workers vote in favour of agreement to end 14-week lockout
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SIPTU members employed by Greyhound Recycling and Recovery voted by a substantial majority in favour of an agreement to end a 14-week long lockout at the company, at a meeting in Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Monday, 22nd September.The ballot followed intense negotiations over the previous weekend between SIPTU representatives and the management of the waste disposal company. These talks resulted in an agreement which was presented to the workers before the ballot.
SIPTU Utilities and Construction Division Organiser, Owen Reidy, said: “This agreement hopefully brings to an end a long and difficult period for the workers and their families. Throughout, the workers have remained united and it is this solidarity that has made an agreed solution to this dispute finally possible”.
He added: “The fortitude of the Greyhound workers’ elected representatives and the SIPTU organisers involved in this dispute has been a key factor in the union’s ability to negotiate an agreement with management. The support that these workers received from communities throughout Dublin, the trade union movement and local elected representatives was also instrumental in a solution finally emerging that was agreeable to both sides”.
The agreement includes a redundancy package of two weeks pay plus statutory entitlements of two weeks per year of service for the workers who have decided to leave Greyhound Recycling and Recovery.
Thirteen of the workers who are remaining with the company will retain their previous terms and conditions. These workers will work on a Dublin City Council contract to collect waste from social housing units and will be selected according to length of service at the company.
Workers who are remaining with the company but will not be working on the social housing contract have agreed a wage reduction of between 15% and 20%. These workers will also be compensated for the changes in their terms and conditions of employment by receiving a payment of a sum equal to 30% of the redundancy package to which they would have been entitled if they were leaving the company.
The Greyhound workers were locked out at the west Dublin based waste disposal company on 17th June. Management at the company had attempted to force workers to accept wage cuts of up to 35% and employed strikebreakers to carry out waste collections during the dispute. SIPTU has 80 members in the company which has a licence to collect household waste in the Dublin City Council area.
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