Cork IFI workers to meet Ahern over redundancy

A delegation of workers from the IFI plant in Cork, which closes today with the loss of 180 jobs, is meeting the Taoiseach tonight to demand increased redundancy payments.

IFI factories in Belfast and Arklow, Co Wicklow, are also set to close today, with the loss of around 620 jobs in total.

The unions are furious at what they see as a betrayal by the Government, which owns a 51 per cent stake in the company.

It was announced last night that €24.6 million, half of which is coming from State coffers, will be made available to fund redundancy payments for the workers. A union delegation was informed by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment last night "that's all there's going to be".

Ms Anne-Marie McIllwraigh of SIPTU told ireland.comthat they were now in a "dire situation", as the average payment works out at only 2.1 weeks' pay per year of service.

With workers leaving today with nothing more than their last paycheck in their pockets and redundancy payments not due for 12 weeks, they were facing a very uncertain future, she said.

There was "absolutely no hope" for the majority of workers in securing alternative employment in the area, which has been hit by a succession of job losses in recent months, including the ISPAT plant. The Government, and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, were now the focus of "an inordinate amount of anger in the area", she claimed. "She made a commitment to us recently that she has simply failed to honour."

Local politicians have also "gone to ground", but the staff were hoping for some support, Ms McIllwraigh added.

She denied reports, however, that the workers were planning a sit-in next week, saying that management had asked the staff to assemble each morning in the canteen for a briefing on the situation.

SIPTU's national industrial secretary, Mr Noel Dowling, said yesterday a protest would be held outside the offices of ICI in London next week. ICI owns the remaining 49 per cent of the company. He said they would be lobbying ICI to contribute more money to the severance fund.