Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has denied claims that it is engaging in 'union busting' tactics in a dispute with engineers at its data centre in Clonee, Co Meath.
The workers, who are members of the Connect trade union, are to engage in a one-day strike at the data centre on Monday.
The union is accusing the company of imposing unilateral changes to its members' terms and conditions by introducing new shift patterns which will result in them working more weekends and night shifts.
Connect has claimed that Meta is using 'union busting' tactics by threatening workers that their jobs will be outsourced and quizzing them about their union activity during one-on-one meetings.
"It is clear that these meetings were aimed at undermining our members' determination to collectively engage with management," said Connect official Brian McAvinue.
Meta has rejected this, saying that it was made clear to the workers that it had no intention of outsourcing the roles.
Connect has said that a new four-week shift cycle was introduced despite its members not agreeing and without counter proposals being considered.
Meta has said the industrial action will not affect its data centre operations and that it involves a small group of employees who were asked to implement a new shift pattern in May.
"While we respect the right to take industrial action, we have been consulting directly with these employees over the past six months to discuss the change and agree ways in which their existing highly competitive compensation and benefits package would be adjusted to reflect the change," a Meta spokesperson said.
Meta said it operates a direct model of engagement whereby it engages directly with employees.
A 24 hour work stoppage at the Clonee data centre is due to begin at 7am on Monday morning.
