Vita Cortex workers protest at IBEC offices in Cork
The Vita Cortex workers, on their 62nd day of a sit-in over unpaid redundancy entitlements, protested outside the offices of Irish Business and Employer’s Confederation (IBEC) on Douglas Road in Cork on Thursday (16th February).
The workers organised the protest over what, they believe, is the failure of IBEC to use its influence to get their former employer, Jack Ronan, to pay the 0.9 weeks in outstanding redundancy payments owed to them.
“The workers believe that IBEC could use its considerable influence to get the owner of Vita Cortex, Jack Ronan, and his fellow directors, to pay this outstanding debt. It is not a huge amount of money given the wealth and assets they clearly enjoy and it would be the honourable thing to do for workers who between them have given over 900 years in service to the company,” said SIPTU Organiser, Ann Egar.
“It is now apparent that IBEC has become an impediment to the resolution of this dispute and the Vita Cortex workers would like it to state whether it believes their cause is just and that they are entitled to their promised redundancy payments.
“Other decent employers in the Cork area and across the country cannot be happy to support the actions of a maverick who is trying to evade his responsibilities to a loyal workforce. It is up to the employer’s organisation, IBEC, to get Mr Ronan and his co-directors onside and to resolve this dispute,” she said.
Last weekend, over 5000 people marched through Cork city in support of the Vita Cortex workers while on Monday last (13th February) the manager of Manchester United, Alex Ferguson, sent a widely reported message urging them to “stick in there”.
Previous expressions of solidarity have been made by former UN Human Rights Commissioner, Mary Robinson, the Bishop of Cork, John Buckley, the Cork hurling manager, Jimmy Barry Murphy, and author and political activist, Noam Chomsky.
On Friday, Christy Moore and Declan Sinnott will play a ‘sold out’ concert in the Triskel Arts Centre in support of the Vita Cortex workers.
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