Workers Solidarity Movement

About 150 people rallied at the Dail Thursday lunchtime in support of the Vita Cortex Workers.  According to SIPTU Manufacturing Division Organiser, Gerry McCormack, “the Vita Cortex workers have shown enormous courage in making the stance they made.  They are tolerating appalling conditions in terms of sleeping on foam on the ground at night, in what might be described as a large shed, and are fully determined to stay until this employer engages in a meaningful way to resolve this issue. The new owners of the company borrowed millions of euro from AIB to buy out previous shareholders and used the company assets as collateral against those loans.  They gambled with our members’ jobs and livelihoods to gain control over a valuable site in Cork. The Vita Cortex workers securing their rightful redundancy entitlements is a cause which should be supported by all trade unionists and those who believe in the just and fair settlement of industrial disputes. Failure to win this struggle will amount to a massive defeat for all those fighting against the race to the bottom; it will not be allowed happen.”

Other union banners on display included the CPSU, TEEU and DCTU while the Migrant Rights Centre were also present. A number of workers from Lagan Bricks, who have been picketing their former workplace for a number of weeks in a similar dispute, also attended to show their support. The workers SIPTU organiser, Anne Edgar, and Shop Steward, Sean Kelleher, spoke to the crowd outlining the background to the dispute and thanking everyone who has given them support, from Cork Hurling Manager Jimmy Barry Murphy, to the Bishop of Cork. A meeting between SIPTU and Vita Cortex management will take place next Tuesday at the Labour Relations Commission (who's decisions are not binding), but ongoing solidarity action and support from as many people and organisations as possible is vital if the workers are to succeed in getting their correct redundancy entitlements.