Existing management has failed to engage with union over transfer or redundancies 

Union considering all options in order to defend its membership

August 13th: Philip Oakes, Regional Officer for the union’s membership at Maydown Precision Engineering, has expressed his deep disappointment at the behaviour of management who attempted to progress redundancies without any engagement with the union. He called for a meeting with Seamus Kilgallon, the CEO of new owner, Schivo NI as a matter of urgency.

“Management at Maydown has failed to abide by the terms of our existing recognition agreement by not engaging with ourselves during the recent transfer process and by refusing to be open about planned redundancies in the company.

“When we made public the fact that the workforce had received letters warning of possible redundancies, they sought to justify their indefensible approach and attempted to portray our actions as irresponsible.

“We were concerned that management might be adopting an anti-union attitude after check-off arrangements for payment of union membership subs was discontinued. We are aware of fears among trade union activists within the workforce that they may be prioritised for redundancies under the current process.

“Unite will not stand idly by as our activists are targeted by management. We are considering all our options to defend our members.

“In order to avoid any further deterioration in industrial relations, we are calling for a meeting with the Chief Executive of the new owner company, Seamus Kilgallon, as a matter of urgency in order to initiate a more productive relationship between the union and management”, Mr Oakes concluded.