Irish firm C&F denies firing 80 workers over union affiliation

Irish engineering firm C&F has cut up to 80 jobs at a subsidiary in the Philippines but says the workers were not let go for attempting to form a trade union.

The company, which manufactures parts principally for the motor industry, has been accused of "union busting" by Dutch workers' rights group Good Electronics. The advocacy group claimed the workers were sacked by the Galway-headquartered company after 63 of them registered a union with the department of labour and employment in the Philippines.

It also claimed the employees were informed of the “mass lay-off” through a posted announcement on the company’s bulletin board and were replaced by agency staff. However, a C&F spokesman denied the workers were made redundant as a result of union affiliation or that the company had restrained union activity at the subsidiary.

“We certainly haven’t been engaged in the any form of union-busting,” he said.

The spokesman said 80 of the subsidiary’s 400 staff had been made redundant in May as a result of business efficiencies. He said, however, the restructuring decision was made prior to the company being notified of the existence of a union.

“There was absolutely no correlation between the redundancy decision and the union,” he insisted.

The spokesman also said the staff in question had been offered “generous redundancy packages” and most of them had accepted the financial terms on offer.

Labour law

C&F has at all times followed the law as recognised under the labour code of the Philippines, he added. “We exercise our management prerogatives as the labour code in the Philippines allows us to do.”

The company was established by Michael Carr and John Flaherty in 1989, and counts IBM, Ingersoll Rand, Glen Dimplex and Sanyo on its client list. Its rapid growth resulted in Mr Flaherty being named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2008.

According to its most recent financial returns, it had an annual turnover of €138.5 million.

The company, which employs roughly 1,400 staff worldwide, supplies contract manufacturing services to firms across several industries from bases in Ireland, eastern Europe, the US and Asia.

However, the main bulk of the business is taken up with the design and manufacture of machine parts, components and general tool-making for the automotive industry. More recently it has begun designing and manufacturing wind turbines and other renewable-energy solutions.