100 jobs to be lost at Laois meat factory

ABOUT 100 jobs are to be lost at a meat-processing factory in Co Laois following a decision by Dawn Meats Group to merge part of its operations with a factory in Co Waterford.

The company has said it will offer new positions in Grannagh, Co Waterford, to those laid off in Co Laois, but Siptu has said few of the existing staff will be able to take up the positions.

Some 150 people are currently employed at Meadow Meats in Rathdowney, Co Laois. The factory’s boning facility is to be shut down by the end of August. Cattle slaughtering at the factory will continue and 50 people who work in the abattoir will continue to be employed there.

In a statement yesterday, Dawn Meats Group said employment at the Grannagh factory was expected to exceed 300 by 2011. Siptu branch organiser Miriam Hamilton said the loss of 100 jobs at the Co Laois plant would be a huge blow to the community as well as to the workforce.

She said “many of these workers are only earning €9 an hour and making a round trip each day of 180km is not financially feasible, nor do they have the resources to move house.”