SIPTU is to make the services of the Irish Trade Union Trust (ITUT) available to Seagate employees. The trust was set up by SIPTU to develop new approaches to job creation and retention. This month it has also introduced a service for workers being made redundant, which first came into operation in Ballina to help employees of the Asahi plant find new jobs.
The Asahi plant closed finally last Friday, and ITUT has established a database with a profile of the workforce. CVs have already been prepared for the 220 former SIPTU members in Asahi, and yesterday 30 began training on an enterprise course to help them start their own businesses.
Despite the boom, 10,000 Irish workers lost their jobs this year. ITUT's chief executive, Mr Eddie Glackin, says that ensuring redundancies are handled in a planned and orderly way is an important part of ensuring that workers losing jobs maximise their chances of obtaining new ones.
"Being made redundant is one of the most traumatic and stressful events which can happen in a worker's life. In a perverse way, the sense of failure and isolation which accompanies redundancy has actually been worsened because of the success of the so-called Celtic Tiger," he says.
"It is important that the workers concerned, and their families, are assisted to plan positively for the future, which is where ITUT's new, integrated service comes in."
ITUT has just produced a Redundancy Information Guide, which provides material not just on redundancy and social welfare entitlements, but issues like mortgage interest supplements, educational opportunities and, most important for many, how to get back into the workforce.
The trust liaises closely with the Local Employment Service in Ballina, as well as the Mayo Enterprise Board, Forbairt and other agencies. Former Asahi employee-scan also avail of ITUT's expertise in creating co-operatives. Over the past decade the trust has helped establish nearly 700 jobs in 10 years.