Labour Court recommends €5,000 each for two Henry Denny workers

The Labour Court recommended that Henry Denny & Sons Ltd pay €5,000 each to Two Workers represented by the Services Industrial Professional Technical Union (SIPTU), in a restructuring dispute. The recommendation was signed on 31 May 2016. The workers had a red-circled shift agreement after two plants were amalgamated. SIPTU said they had cooperated with changes to shifts and working conditions, but redundancy was not an option for them. The company said they had access to voluntary redundancy, had already received fair compensation and had been paid a three-cycle shift rate for 14 years while working two-cycle shifts. The Court found that the workers had cooperated with changes intended to prevent the plant's immediate closure, which adversely affected their terms and conditions and departed significantly from their 2002 agreement. It found merit in SIPTU's claim and recommended the payments in full and final settlement of matters arising from the restructuring. The Court said the case was unique and did not set a precedent.