Coca-Cola picket hit by car

SIPTU reported on Tuesday that a picketer at the Coca-Cola plant in Finglas, Dublin, had to be taken to hospital after a car drove through the picket line.
Three hundred workers have been picketing in Dublin, Cork, Tipperary, Waterford and Galway in protest at the company’s decision to outsource 130 jobs.
SIPTU said this week that the dispute would be escalated with the union “engaging in an ongoing campaign across the island of Ireland to seek the support of the general public for the workers of Coca-Cola HBC in their fight for justice”.
SIPTU said Coca-Cola HBC has refused to attend the Labour Relations Commission to discuss alternatives to the sacking of 130 employees or the outsourcing of their jobs. Coca-Cola wants to talk about redundancy terms only.
Meanwhile, Coca-Cola was granted an interim injunction by the Dublin High Court on Monday against pickets being placed at two of its premises in Dublin and Tipperary: Huntstown Business Park in Dublin and Kiely’s Distribution Limited in Tipperary. Coca-Cola is claiming intimidation of drivers crossing picket lines.
The case is due back in High Court again this Friday.

Green Isle sackings lead to action

INDUSTRIAL action was instituted by the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union at Green Isle Foods in Naas, County Kildare, over the sacking of seven workers for alleged misconduct.
Forty-one workers took part in the action on Monday after the union said Green Isle has refused to negotiate a fair disciplinary process to deal with the cases.
The dispute began in November 2008 when an employee opened a file which was mistakenly sent to him by senior management, which contained proposals that would have seen seven TEEU members lose their jobs.
The TEEU said the Human Resources Department at the plant refused to take calls from the Labour Relations Commission last week when the union tried to seek a resolution of the dispute.
Accusing management of trying to implement redundancies on the cheap, the TEEU said Green Isle had brought in staff from Britain to do the jobs of workers picketing the plant.