Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Labour)

I recently brought an urgent matter concerning a forced, contested redundancy situation in Galway to the attention of several Ministers, including the Minister for Social Protection and the Minster for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Rehab Enterprises plans to make 18 employees in its recycling centre in Galway redundant. Only a limited number of employees have indicated that they will partake in voluntary redundancy, with 14 or 15 employees to be forced out the door. Many of these employees have been on short time for the past two and a half years, despite the significant increase in the Rehab Group's operating surplus from €1.9 million in 2009 to €2.3 million in 2010.

Most of the employees affected are unskilled and some have a disability. Both of these factors will make it difficult for them to find alternative employment. Workers have contacted me concerning this case and are looking for ideas from the Government with regard to an attempt to engage with the employer to seek a positive outcome. Worker representatives have asked for a three-month pause in the redundancy process to allow for a working party from the community to attempt to find a way to maintain the viability of the Galway plant. To date, Rehab has not acceded to the wish of the workers to give them a window of opportunity to retain the jobs of the vulnerable people affected.

SIPTU has also asked or the accounts of Rehab to be opened in order that an open assessment may be made of the merits of the case for redundancy, but to date nothing has been forthcoming and unsubstantiated accounts of the company's position have been related.

On its website, the Rehab Group claims to be "a leading non-governmental organisation which works towards a world where every person has the opportunity to achieve their potential". It further claims that "Rehab enables people to make the most of their skills and talents, to take up employment or further education and to live more independent lives". It makes a virtue of "directly employing a further 200 people with disabilities in our commercial division". However, when it comes to determining who should be made redundant, it uses selection criteria that seem predetermined to be punitive on those with a low-skill base, which Rehab never sought to address over the years of its existence by offering vulnerable workers an opportunity for retraining or reskilling. Other selection criteria used were irrelevant to the skills needed for the job at the employment.

This approach was not appropriate in terms of the care of vulnerable workers where a genuine effort is intended to set out and to help to achieve their potential. They are entitled to have dignity in the workplace. To date all those affected by this proposal have been affected by poor communications from the employment. There is a lack of transparency with regard to the company's position in respect of their representatives. At most we are seeing an unpaid transition from employment to a process of support, possibly without as much as a curriculum vitae.

I call on the Minister to assist in some resolution of the redundancy situation in Galway for these vulnerable people. Some of these people have worked for Rehab for almost 20 years. It has been their life. Time must be given for a possible working group to give solutions to Rehab with regard to the long-term viability of the facility in Galway. I call on the Rehab group to actively participate in a discussion with the Department, which plays a critical role in subsidising vulnerable workers in society. It is unacceptable that Rehab would put in place corporate selection criteria based on people's skills and their capacity to be in work on time and to use their skill-set as an opportunity to retain or force them out the door, especially in light of the fact that we underpin this organisation and we support the hourly rate of pay. I call on the Minister to examine this situation carefully.

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