Workers affected by the on-going cattle cull should be entitled to compensation, according to Mr Jack O'Connor vice-president of SIPTU. He is seeking a meeting the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Joe Walsh, on the issue as further job losses in the industry were announced today.
Factories in counties Monaghan and Leitrim announced their intention to close today with a loss 95 jobs following on from yesterday's announcement by Dawn Meats that it was cutting jobs at its plant in Co Mayo. Further redundancies are anticipated if a cull of all 750,000 cattle aged over 30 months takes place.
The plants, Vanstar Ireland Meats in Jamestown, Co Leitrim; and Moy Valley Meats near Carrickmackross, Co Monaghan, are both closing because of the collapse of international meat markets caused by low consumer confidence resulting from the BSE crisis.
The Dawn Meats plant announced redundancies because it is concentrating its operation on the cattle cull.
SIPTU say many wokers in the meat industry will incur significant losses as a result of the BSE crisis and some may lose their livlihoods entirely.
Thje Unions vice-president, Mr jack O'Connor says that while other groups implicated in the cull are having compensation arranged more than 4,000 workers are being overlooked.
"The producers, processors and even the hauliers have already started the stampede for compensation. We are particularly concerned that our members who are only ever considered as an afterthought in the meat sector should be included in any compensation measures that may be delivered," he said.
SIPTU has also announced its intention to convene a meeting of all its elected representatives to develop a "plant by plant" campaign of action>