Carpet plant strike suspended for pay talks
WORKERS at the InterfaceFLOR carpet factory in Lurgan have agreed to suspend their all-out strike action and allow their union representatives to enter into talks with management, it emerged yesterday.
Talks will now begin at the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) on Monday after a week of rancorous exchages between management and Unite, the union representing the workers.
The 85 workers at the American-owned InterfaceFLOR plant threatened to down tools after a dispute over pay. The company is a leading international manufacturer of carpet tiles and commercial flooring and operates an English sister plant near Halifax in Yorkshire.
The dispute stems from a payment made to staff there but not as yet offered to the Craigavon employees.
The union claims the company decided not to offer its local workforce a pay rise due in April last year, while agreeing to a one-off payment of up to 500 in Yorkshire in England.
Mr McKeever said that after intial discussions, the industrial action had been called off and the union was hoping for “meaningful” dialogue at the LRA on Monday about the payment and other grievances.
“The problem is that management at a local level don’t seem to want to get involved, so all negotiation has to come from head office in England,” he said.
“We’re hoping that Monday will bring some meaningful talks under the Labour Relations Agency, and that the company can put its best foot forward to try and resolve theses issues.”
He warned that if there was no progress, there was still a possibilty of a walkout.
In a statement issued on behalf of the company, Operations Director Steven Martin said: “We can confirm that strike action has been suspended pending further discussion.”
Operations director of InterfaceFLOR, Steve Martin said: “We can confirm that we have not received any clear proposal from the union on what their demands are.
“We are therefore surprised that strike action is planned ahead of the meeting we have already arranged with our full-time officer from Unite for the following day (January 26) when any issues could have been discussed.
“We do not believe that strike action is warranted at Craigavon where we have worked hard to maintain pay without cutting staff throughout very difficult trading conditions.
“We enjoy good staff retention rates and industrial relations and hope this will continue.”
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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