The dispute over the shedding of 130 Coca Cola jobs in Tuam has gone on “long enough” and it is “high time” that the Enterprise and Employment Minister Mary Coughlan intervened.
This is the view of Labour Party president and Galway West TD Michael D Higgins who said that under Section 38 of the Industrial Relations Act 1990, as Minister for Employment, the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan is empowered to refer such disputes to the Labour Relations Commission or to the Labour Court.
According to Dep Higgins, over the past number of days SIPTU has been “forced to look for an all-out picket” in the dispute, a development, which he said was “virtually inevitable” given the “failure of the company to genuinely engage with the workers in a bid to bring an end to the dispute”.
Dep Higgins said the dispute can only be sorted out if the company “agrees to sit down in good faith” with the workers and their representatives. If not, the Tánaiste must then “become involved”.
