Hope that transfer to local management will secure group’s future

January 9: Regional Secretary of Unite, Jimmy Kelly, welcomed the transfer of some parts of the former Quinn group to a local management consortium:

“The history of the Quinn group reflects the critical role of local business leadership in fostering economic development and job creation. As such, we welcome the recent transfer of elements of the former Quinn group to the local QBRC consortium which we hope will inject a new dynamism and commitment to the retention of employment in the border area. Unite looks forward to working constructively and positively with the new management for the benefit and protection of our members.

“It appears increasingly likely that Quinn Glass will be transferred to a different, non-local bidder. This will pose challenges associated with the division of the group but we remain confident and hopeful that we can work with both new managements to safeguard and protect employment into the long-term.

“Unite has industrial recognition agreements for workers across the former Quinn group and with the decision to split its ownership, we will have a vital role to play in protecting employment and ensuring productive collaborative arrangements are continued into the future.

“Recently we brought worker representatives from the former Quinn glass factory in Elton to Ballyconnell for pay negotiations, with further meetings of that nature planned into the future.

“We are very focussed on defending the job security of all our members in this transition and will seek guarantees on the retention of all driver-related work within the local labour force. Unite’s first and only priority in this transition is to defend the job security and benefit of our members”, Mr Kelly concluded.