Job losses for Ballymun hotel workers

THE way in which 65 people had their jobs taken away last week when the Ballymun Plaza Hotel closed has been described by Sinn Féin Councillor Dessie Ellis as “deplorable”.
The hotel closed following a dispute between the hotel owners and the management company responsible for the day-to-day running of the hotel. Workers turned up to protest at the hotel during the week and discovered that it had been repossessed by the owners, Bennet Construction.
Staff said that a former employee had been sacked for organising hotel staff in trade unions as many of them were only earning the minimum wage.
Councillor Dessie Ellis said:
“There was no notice, no consultation and no consideration given to the workers who have dedicated themselves to making a success of the hotel.
“I am calling on management and the landlords to resolve this issue and to reopen the hotel immediately.”
Failing this, he said, a third party should be invited to take over the day-to-day operations provided they guarantee that the existing workforce is rehired in its entirety and that all monies owed to the employees will be paid out.
“This hotel was an integral part of the Ballymun Regeneration programme, both as a local amenity and as a source of much needed local employment,” Dessie Ellis explained. “I am calling on the Government to get involved in saving the hotel and these jobs.”
A SIPTU trade union organiser, Miriam Hamilton, has called on the company to work with the union to secure employment by those affected by the company’s actions.

BT protest

BT Ireland staff stage a protest outside BT headquarters at Grand Canal Plaza, Dublin. The staff are protesting at not getting the same rights as their colleagues in the Six Counties

 Ship’s crew paid $1 an hour

A MERCHANT vessel registered in Cambodia but Latvian-owned which docked in Cork this week was exposed by the International Transport Federation (ITF) as paying crew members as little as $1 an hour.
The ship was detained after the seafarers’ union called for action and local dockers backed the crew by refusing to handle the ship.
Ken Fleming of SIPTU and the ITF said that the nine members of crew were owed a total of $92,500. He said five crew members had been pressured into dropping their claims but agreement had been secured that the rest of the crew are to get $63,000 and leave the ship. The ITF is helping to get them home.
The ship’s captain told the ITF that he was earning $3,500 a month – $2,500 less than the required international rate. The cook had only received $100 in earnings since the beginning of this year. 

Congress to enter pay talks

THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions will enter pay talks with the Government and employers this week after voting last week in favour of entering into negotiations for a new pay agreement in the 26 Counties.
According to ICTU, 350 delegates representing over 50 unions voted overwhelmingly to enter talks on “pay and workplace issues”.
The main issues ICTU will raise during the talks are pay increases to match the cost of living, pensions, agency worker legislation, trade union recognition, and investment in public services.
On hearing of the Congress decision last week, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern urged them to “be realistic” in entering the talks and argued that wage bargaining must take account of the “domestic and international economic situation”.
The talks were due to begin as An Phoblacht goes to press this Thursday, 24 April.

Guinness workers may strike

GUINNESS workers are balloting on industrial action in a dispute over redundancy terms which could see an all-out strike at Dublin’s St James’s Gate brewery for the first time in its 250-year history.
The Guinness Staff Union, which represents 800 staff around the 26 Counties, has said that the company revised its redundancy terms and refused to negotiate with staff or the union on changes.
It will be three weeks before all staff ballots are counted and the GSU executive will meet and may decide to take full strike action.