Edwin McGreal
Compromise in the ongoing strike action at Tim Hastings’ garage in Westport appears as far off as ever.
Plans are continuing for a rally by striking workers this Saturday in Westport town centre and no talks have taken place between the company and SIPTU officials since the strike began on Friday, February 3, in a dispute over redundancies.
Both sides appear to be as entrenched as ever. SIPTU Organiser Ashling Dunne told The Mayo News last night that ‘our members will remain indefinitely on strike until the full terms of the Labour Court recommendations are implemented’.
The Labour Court recommended ex-gratia redundancy payments, on top of statutory payments, be made to three workers who were made redundant from the Volkswagen garage in 2016.
However, when asked by The Mayo News last night about the possibility of negotiations, John Maher, manager at the garage, said the money to pay more than statutory redundancy was not there.
“Where the money that the union is looking for us to pay former employees is going to come from is beyond us,” Mr Maher said.
On top of the issue of redundancy payments, SIPTU state two of their members who have been made redundant have since seen their roles filled by new employees - something which is prohibited for a period of time when a role is made redundant in a company.
However, Tim Hastings Ltd say the new employees are performing different roles than those made redundant.
“That’s not true. We have reorganised our business and some of the positions changed as a result of this reorganisation. The roles have significantly varied. We had to downsize in order to make the business viable,” said John Maher.
Ashling Dunne said strike action was the only option available to SIPTU members once the company did not follow the Labour Court recommendations.
“Generally speaking it is agreed in advance by the union and the employers that the Labour Court outcome would be binding on both parties. There was no such agreement with Tim Hastings. When they refused to implement the recommendations by the Labour Court, strike action was the only route we could pursue,” she said.
She added the members remain ‘defiant’ as the strike moves into its fifth week.
“Our members are as defiant now as they were at the start. A lot of that is because of the fantastic support locally. We hope the rally will really put pressure on management to negotiate. We’ve made ourselves available at all times to negotiate,” she said.
Entitled ‘Justice for the Tim Hastings Volkswagen garage workers’, the workers will assemble with supporters at 1pm at the NCT Centre on the Lodge Road in Westport and march to the Octagon for 2pm.
Meanwhile, Tim Hastings Limited remains open for business.
“We have 12 people working here who are dedicated to coming in and out of here every day to protect their livelihood. Our focus is on looking after them and their families and our customers,” said John Maher.
In a short statement issued last Thursday, Tim Hastings Ltd said the following: “Like many other businesses in Ireland, Tim Hastings Ltd found it necessary in August 2016 to make a number of positions redundant. In this regard, those who accepted their redundancy were paid their full statutory entitlements. Unfortunately, some others have thus far refused to accept redundancy payments.”
Westport strike intensifies
