Six hundred workers at Keelings in Dublin are to be balloted for strike action in a dispute over redundancies, following the loss of a Tesco distribution contract.
Some 130 workers, mostly drivers and support staff, have been told they are being made redundant as a result of the contract being won by a competitor, Stobart Ireland. But Keelings insists that all the staff affected will be offered jobs with the new contractor and that “there will be no impact on pay, benefits or service”.
However, the workers’ trade union, SIPTU - the largest in Ireland - refuses to accept that assurance, claiming there is no guarantee about future pay and conditions.
In addition, it maintains that the announcement of redundancies by Keelings, without any prior notice to staff or union, is in breach of its agreement with the company.
Union spokesman Pat Ward claimed the firm had backtracked on an earlier agreement relating to job security: “Earlier this year we signed up to an agreement with Keelings for greater flexibility, a pay freeze and reduced rates for new recruits.
“We did so because of assurances from the company that the savings would ensure job security. Now that agreement is being torn up.”
Keelings said it was “available at all times” to discuss the dispute with the union, and talks with SIPTU are likely to get under way shortly with both it and Stobart. In the meantime, the strike ballot will go ahead. “The workers are very angry at the way they have been treated,” said a SIPTU spokeswoman. “Some of them have worked for Keelings for over 15 years.”
Stobart, a major player in the UK, has been operating in the Irish Republic for just over two years.
The contract it has won, which covers Tesco’s large scale distribution depot in the Dublin suburb of Ballymun, represents a major coup as it was one of the largest held by Keelings Distribution.
Stobart Ireland’s managing director Sean Brogan referred to the deal as “a significant win that represents another important milestone in our development”.
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