Strike action ballot planned at Offaly recycling and waste company

WORKERS at Bord na Móna Recycling will ballot on possible strike action as the row over the sale of the company intensifies.

Bord na Móna has reached a deal to sell its recycling and waste management arm to a Kerry company, KWD but the SIPTU union has condemned the move, saying it is privatisation of a public service.

SIPTU members at the recycling firm, which the union says is the country’s last publicly owned domestic waste collection service, will ballot for strike action in response to what they believe is the threat to their terms and conditions of employment from a proposed privatisation of the enterprise.

SIPTU divisional organiser Adrian Kane, said: “SIPTU representatives met with the management of Bord na Móna Recycling on Tuesday (18^th February). At this meeting, it was the management position that it could not offer any assurances in terms of the protection of our members’ terms and conditions of employment after the handover to a private enterprise. Following this our shop stewards met last night. At this meeting it was decided that our members had no option but to commence a ballot for industrial action, up to and including strike action, in response to the threat to their terms and conditions of employment from a sale of the company.

“SIPTU has called for a full investigation into the proposed sale of Bord na Móna Recycling to a private unlimited company for an amount which has not been revealed and in a manner which provides no guarantee for our members’ terms and conditions of employment. The move will also result in domestic waste collection in our State being left solely in the hands of the private sector. This is a position that runs counter to reports by the Oireachtas, local councils, and international best practices.

“What this move amounts to is the Government’s repudiation of a so-called ‘Just Transition’ for Bord na Móna workers who have served that semi-state enterprise well for many years and were active in moving it away from peat production to other key roles. The Government approach is a slap in the face for Midlands communities and makes no economic sense.

“It shows the clear direction of travel of our current right-wing administration. That is away from the development of our economy through utilising the best of public and private enterprise towards gombeen economics, where workers rights, public benefit and environmental protection are secondary to the quick buck.”

Mr Kane added: “Our several hundred members have no option other than balloting for industrial action to protect their livelihoods. However, there is also a bigger fight on here over an economic approach which follows European best practice or one that seeks the destruction of the State’s role in the provision of key services to communities.”

The ballot of SIPTU members employed in Bord na Móna Recycling will be conducted in the workplace and is expected to be completed by early March.

Last month Bord na Móna confirmed it had reached an agreement to sell Bord na Móna Recycling to Irish recycling provider KWD Recycling, subject to regulatory approval.

Bord na Mona's Drehid Resource Recovery business, which generates electricity, is not included in the sale.

The energy company said the transaction followed a strategic review conducted by Bord na Móna of its recycling business which concluded that a sale would enable the business to achieve the scale and efficiency required for sustained growth, profitability and employment.

“The sale also aligns with Bord na Móna’s strategic focus as a renewable energy business committed to helping Ireland achieve its green energy target by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050,” the company said.

Bord na Móna Recycling will continue to provide services as usual for its household and business customers pending regulatory approval of the transaction.

The terms and value of the deal were not disclosed.

Bord na Mona has also said all employees will continue to work for the recycling business with no change to their contractual terms and conditions of employment on handover.

Bord na Mona bought AES (Advanced Environmental Solutions) in 2007 for €61 million.

A fire damaged the Bord na Mona Recycling facility on the Cappincur Road in Tullamore on February 29 last year.