Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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89. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the procedures and supports his Department will, or intend to, put in place following the announcement by workers in a plant (details supplied) in County Tipperary to take strike action following the company’s decision to renege on the terms of a 2009 collective agreement regarding redundancy terms; if he is aware of the issue; if his Department has been in contact with the management on the same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27857/15]

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I understand that members of the Unite trade union who work at the Bulmers plant in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary have voted to begin industrial action on Wednesday July 15th. I further understand that, while the dispute centres around a single employee, the core issue relates more generally to severance terms for managerial employees. I would like to assure the Deputy that the State’s industrial relations machinery is available, if requested, to assist the parties in resolving this dispute.

Ireland’s system of industrial relations is, essentially, voluntary in nature and responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers, whether in redundancy or other collective disputes, rests with the employer, the workers and their representatives. The State provides the industrial relations dispute settlement to support parties in their efforts to resolve their differences.

Even what often appears to be the most intractable of disputes is capable of resolution where both sides engage constructively and in good faith in this voluntary process. The principle of good faith implies that both sides in a dispute make every effort to reach an agreement and endeavour, through genuine and constructive negotiations, to resolve their differences.