SIPTU has warned that it may ballot members at Kerry Group for possible industrial action if the company fails to attend talks at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) aimed at resolving a dispute around proposed redundancies.
Last month the food ingredients company said it was moving 150 positions in finance, HR, data management and regulation to Malaysia and Mexico as part of a consolidation of its shared services division.
The firm said at the time that the creation of a larger and consolidated shared services division would enable it to build specialist teams who can scale in size and deliver a more efficient and consistent service globally.
The positions that are to be made redundant are currently based at its business centres in Naas and Charleville.
However, trade union SIPTU which represents some of the workers has said it has not been possible to reach agreement with the business around the terms of the job losses.
These include the redundancy terms, the selection criteria and the transition arrangements.
"In line with accepted State resolution procedures, we referred the matter to the WRC," said SIPTU Organiser, Terry Bryan.
"However, the company has declined the invitation from the WRC to enter talks."
The union has called on the company to change its position and enter the WRC negotiations.
"Failure on the company's part to do so will leave SIPTU with no other alternative other than to consider a ballot of its members for industrial and/or strike action," Mr Bryan added.
A spokesman for Kerry Group declined to comment on the matter.
