Labour Court backs Proctor & Gamble severance package for planned Nenagh plant closure

The Labour Court recommended that Proctor & Gamble (Manufacturing) Ireland Limited keep its six-weeks-per-year severance package as its Nenagh skincare plant prepared to close, with the loss of 280 jobs. The recommendation was dated 8 January 2008. The Services Industrial Professional Technical Union had sought 10 weeks’ pay per year of service, plus statutory redundancy and no cap. The company’s offer included statutory entitlements, no ceiling on payments, health insurance and life assurance cover, continued employee assistance programme membership and retention of future shares entitlement. The Court considered the package generous and saw no merit in recommending an enhancement. It recommended accepting voluntary redundancy applications where these would not unduly affect plant operations, and further engagement between the company and union in early 2009 on staffing reductions, employment terms and workers’ prospects. Cosmetics production was to continue at Nenagh, maintaining 220 jobs.