Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Workers who are members of Unite the Union and SIPTU have been on strike action at Premier Periclase in Drogheda for almost a month now. This dispute has already gone on for longer than is necessary. I lay the blame for the fact that no settlement has been reached firmly at the door of an intransigent management and an operation that appears to be hell-bent on busting trade union activity and presence at the plant.

The context is that workers initially received a democratic mandate for strike action at the plant in July following a sudden decision, taken outside the agreed framework, to shut down sections of the plant temporarily. Trade unions then agreed to defer action to allow for a resolution of the issues at play under the auspices of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. Respect for our industrial relations institutions should be a cornerstone of workplace democracy but management instead gave the two fingers to our institutions and the workers and failed to engage meaningfully in any real negotiations. No worker ever wants to be on strike but the workers at Premier Periclase simply have no choice. They have to defend their hard-won rights and I stand with them.

This dispute became entrenched with a letter issued by local management to individual workers on 21 August. This letter is an insult to those workers who have given loyal service to the plant over many decades. It was threatening in the extreme and stated management would not negotiate with workers on strike action and would not deal with the workers' established unions of choice. Management plans to eviscerate workers' terms and conditions unilaterally. The high-handed and arrogant missive was designed to tear up a collective agreement that has been in place since 1998 and that has served the company well.

This week, the Government and my party rightly slammed the British Government for reneging on a solemn deal made with the European Union, including Ireland. An agreement freely made is an agreement. The Minister of State's reply will, of course, inevitably tell me these issues need to be resolved through the industrial relations institutions of the State in the context of the WRC and by having both sides of industry come together in that spirit. Would the Minister of State call on the company, in the spirit of respecting agreements that are made, to honour the one it made with its workers in 1998 and show them the respect that they deserve and to which their loyalty entitles them?

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