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Coca Cola workers strike

category national | worker & community struggles and protests | press release author Thursday August 27, 2009 13:40author by anton

SIPTU members at Coca Cola HBC Ireland Ltd are taking strike action in protest at the company’s plans to outsource the jobs of 130 distribution and warehousing staff in Dublin, Tuam, Waterford, Tipperary and Cork. Pickets were set up at the plants this week .

Last week Coca Cola HBC drivers and warehouse staff received letters from three private transport companies offering them new employment at greatly disimproved pay and working conditions and containing threats of redundancy.

Coca-Cola employs just over 1,200 staff in Ireland at its five main distribution centres. Earlier this year the company announced 130 jobs in the transport division would be outsourced to private transport companies saying that outsourcing is necessary to cut costs and safeguard other jobs

http://www.siptu.ie/PressRoom/NewsReleases/2009/Name,11....html

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author by antonpublication date Thu Aug 27, 2009 13:52author address author phone

Accoding to a report in todays Irish Times , SIPTU branch organiser John Dunne said: “Coca-Cola HBC has refused to engage in discussions at the Labour Relations Commission on the issues in dispute including any serious examination of an alternative to the planned outsourcing of these jobs."

Coca Cola , as would be expected , took a different view telling the Times that the outsourcing was actually in the best interest of employees :

"Gokhan Bilgic, managing director of CCBHC Ireland, said the strike was "regrettable" but that the decision to outsource the logistics operations "was in the best interests of the company and its employees".

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0827/...2.htm

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/93821

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