BORD na Móna Recycling workers in Limerick voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a row over protecting working terms and conditions.
SIPTU members employed by Bord na Móna Recycling, the country’s last publicly-owned domestic waste collection service, said their working conditions are threatened by a proposed privatisation.
SIPTU organiser Adrian Kane said “the ballot for strike action was carried overwhelmingly”, adding that “our members are clear in their aim of protecting the last remaining publicly-owned domestic waste collection service, which is the industry leader in terms of environmental responsibility, health, and safety standards and workers’ rights”.
“The attempt to sell off Bord na Móna Recycling was done behind the backs of its workers. It is a bad deal for them, the country, and the future of waste collection in Ireland.
“It also raises serious questions concerning the future of the semi-state sector in Ireland. Bord na Móna as an enterprise drove the economic development of the Midlands for generations, it was meant to be central to a so-called ‘just transition’ for workers into a new greener economy.”
The ballot was conducted in depots in counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Limerick, Louth, Offaly, Meath, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford, and Wicklow.
A Bord na Móna spokesperson has previously said all employees would continue to work for the recycling business with no change to their contractual terms and conditions of employment “on handover”.
The sale is subject to approval by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and Environment Minister Darragh O’Brien.
