The Labour Court recommended improved redundancy terms for 178 workers at ABB Transformers (Waterford) after the company announced its plant closure. The recommendation, signed on 27 October 2009, followed a claim by Services Industrial Professional Technical Union, Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union, Unite and a non-union staff group.
The employee-side groups sought eight weeks’ average pay per year of service, including statutory redundancy, capped at €180,000. ABB Transformers (Waterford) said it had offered a severance package and planned to continue production until the end of March 2010.
The Court recommended that the company’s package be amended to six weeks’ average pay per year of service, inclusive of statutory redundancy, capped at three years’ average earnings. A week’s pay should include basic pay, shift, overtime and bonus, calculated over the preceding 12 months.