The Communications Workers' Union (CWU) has called on the Government to intervene and insist that outsourcing firm Covalen, which provides services to social media giant Meta, engage with the union over 704 proposed redundancies.
CWU members at Covalen are due to strike on Friday in a dispute over union recognition and redundancy payments for staff facing job losses. It is understood that most of the planned redundancies are within an AI project.
Union political representative and Covalen content analyst Owen O'Reilly said union attempts to engage with the company have been challenging.
"We are trying to negotiate with them, and they're just not willing to negotiate with us. 704 [job] redundancies have been announced. We know that over 500 of them are definite, and what they are offering is just the statutory redundancy," Mr O’Reilly said.
He said many staff have been employed less than one year and subsequently are facing a situation where they will not receive redundancy payment.
"We've written an open letter to the company. We've tried to sit down and speak to the company…and at the moment, it's very much as we're just hitting a wall," he said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Covalen said the company continues to proactively consult with and support the affected teams through this transition.
"We also continue to follow the required processes in line with our obligations. All employees have access to our employee wellbeing support through Covalen’s Employee Assistance Programme," the spokesperson added.
Union General Secretary Seán McDonagh called on government to legislate for the right of workers to join unions and to amend legislation on statutory redundancies.
"We're calling government to remove the veto that employers have on the right of workers to join and be represented by the union.
"We're calling on government to reform the legislation for redundancy in circumstances where the minimum is going to be deployed by the company. It's outdated, it's adequate, it's insufficient," he said.
President of the Communications Workers’ Union Frank Donohoe said the recent announcement by Covalen that it was planning to make 700 workers redundant at its Dublin operation "enraged" members, calling for government intervention.
At the union’s biennial conference in Sligo, Mr Donohoe told delegates that the government needs "to urgently intervene and take heed of the potential impact of AI on jobs across the economy."
He said: "Tech companies like Covalen should not be allowed to eliminate hundreds of jobs with the stroke of a pen without government control.
"The union has sought an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Enterprise, Peter Burke to seek intervention and to insist that Covalen management engage with the union on the proposed redundancies," he added.
In his presidential address, Mr Donohoe also described challenges in housing, cost of living and healthcare as "a blight on the Government’s term in office".
He said the fuel crisis has added to the challenges in people’s lives and said the fuel protests highlighted the frustration of those suffering the most.
He alleged "attempts by racist elements to hijack these protests were both negative and damaging to the campaign".
His remarks received a rapturous applause from conference delegates.
The two-day conference began this morning. The Communication Workers Union represents employees in a diverse range of companies including An Post, DPD, UPS, Eir, Vodafone, Cornmarket, KN Circet, Microsoft, Accenture, Meta, Google and Covalen.
