Louth's Nash says Dunleer job losses 'a disaster for the workers'

Louth Labour TD Ged Nash has said that the loss of 70 job at Glen Dimplex in Dunleer "is a disaster for the workers and their families" and has called on the company to "now engage meaningfully with workers and their representatives in SIPTU to explore every alternative short of redundancies".

In a statement today, Deputy Nash said that: “The announcement at Glen Dimplex in Dunleer that 70 manufacturing jobs at the plant are at risk is a disaster for the workers and their families as well as the wider community in Dunleer and Mid-Louth. It sounds the death knell for good manufacturing jobs at the Dunleer plant and comes on top of another significant round redundancies at Glen Dimplex, last year.

“This latest blow means any pledges the company made in the context of the last round of redundancies and indeed today to add jobs at the Dunleer facility in the future will be treated with the scepticism it deserves. 

“While there is a commitment to expand warehousing jobs at Glen Dimplex in Dunleer, the company’s behaviour over the last year will not inspire confidence among the people of Dunleer and Mid-Louth. They need to learn from the contemptuous way they treated workers and their union in the previous round of job losses in Dunleer."

Deputy Nash continued: “I am calling on the company to now engage meaningfully with workers and their representatives in SIPTU to explore every alternative short of redundancies and I made that clear to them in a call this morning. I have also been in contact with SIPTU. 

“If it is the case that redundancies cannot be avoided, the company must co-operate with unions to deliver a fair, collective and genuinely consultative redundancy process. Workers who may be made redundant should be recognised for their hard work, their skills and their loyalty with a package that is fair, decent and is benchmarked against established norms."

The Labour TD added, “this is an enormous blow for the town of Dunleer and the Mid-Louth region and requires a national response from government and State agencies to bring new jobs to the region and make sure affected workers find alternative employment quickly.”