Greyhound workers to enter talks with management

Workers at Greyhound Recycling have voted to accept a Labour Relations Commission invitation to enter talks with representatives of the company.

Trade union Siptu said a “substantial majority” of the workers voted in favour of engaging in the talks process in a ballot this morning in west Dublin

Siptu organiser Henry O’Shea said he hopes for a “fair and just” resolution to the dispute.

“Following the counting of the ballot contact was made with representatives of the LRC,” Mr O’Shea said. “The union is currently awaiting a response as to when the talks process will begin. It is hoped that this process will result in a fair and just resolution to this dispute”.

Management at Greyhound has already agreed to enter talks with the workers. “Greyhound has accepted an invitation in recent days from the Labour Relations Commission to commit to a process of engagement,” the company said in a statement.

An industrial dispute at the recycling firm has been ongoing for about 12 weeks, centring on the refusal by 78 Siptu workers to accept pay cuts of up to 35 per cent. The workers, as well as their families and supporters, have been picketing the Greyhound recycling and recovery plant in Clondalkin since June.

At a meeting of Dublin City Council last night, Lord Mayor Christy Burke and a majority of city councillors stood to applaud the striking workers, many of whom had earlier protested outside City Hall.

Mr Burke also called on acting Garda commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan “to pull back” from “heavy-handed tactics” involved in policing the pickets, and not “persecute the workers and their supporters”.

Greyhound, meanwhile, has accused protesters of engaging in illegal activity at the company’s depot. “Trucks are being illegally blocked in breach of High Court injunctions and Greyhound staff are being subjected to serious intimidation,” the firm said in a statement.

Independent Dublin city councillor Cieran Perry was arrested in Cabra this morning at a protest in support of the workers.

According to a Statement from Mr Perry, he was arrested under the Public Order Act and detained in Finglas Garda station for more than an hour.