Google workers have secured the right to set up a new Europe-wide council to engage directly with management over decisions such as job cuts and it will be located in Dublin, reports the Business Post.
The company has finalised an agreement with workers to establish a European works council (EWC), which is not a union but an internal group that gives workers the right to be consulted by management over “transnational” issues such as mergers and acquisitions or job cuts, according to an internal document.
The EWC’s establishment comes amid a wave of redundancies in the tech sector. Under the agreement, the council will be registered under Irish law. This means that if there is a dispute between the company and the council across Google’s European operations, it will be dealt with in Ireland.
Indeed office footprint
Recruitment company Indeed has decided to pull out of its office on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin, reports the Sunday Times.
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The company, owned by Japan’s Recruit, notified staff month that it will cut 2,200 roles globally. It employs 1,242 people across its St Stephen’s Green and Capital Dock offices, with hundreds of these jobs now at risk.
Indeed signed a 10-year lease on the St Stephen’s Green office in 2020 but now says that the Capital Dock premises is “large enough to accommodate all employees”.
It had already begun to sublet office space following the adoption of a working-from-home policy since the pandemic.
Pernod Ricard in Russia
Pernod Ricard, which owns Ireland’s biggest-selling whiskey brand, Jameson, has resumed the supply of brands to the Russian market, with Jameson products available on a popular Russian alcohol website with stores in Moscow, reports the Sunday Independent.
A spokeswoman for the company told the newspaper its priority was “the protection of our local employees in both Ukraine and Russia in strict compliance with all applicable regulations and sanctions”.
While initially this involved the sale of existing stocks imported to Russia before the escalation of the conflict, these stocks have been depleted, so Pernod Ricard is now supplying stock “to a level that permits us to ensure the welfare of our local team and the viability of the Pernod Ricard distribution subsidiary”.
It said this remained in compliance with the regulations.
Brosnan and Cramer dispute
The US court dispute involving ex-Kerry Group chief executive Denis Brosnan and his former son-in-law’s company Futures Group is set to continue after a mediated settlement conference failed to find a resolution, according to the Sunday Independent.
US filings in North Carolina show Brosnan, his former son-in-law Geoff Cramer and a representative from Futures Group attended an ordered conference on March 24th.
But the mediator’s report shows the parties at the meeting reached an impasse. Mr Cramer and Mr Brosnan’s daughter separated in 2020 and the two men have since been locked in litigation concerning Mr Brosnan’s relationship with the tech recruitment company.
CarTrawler set for sale
CarTrawler, the Irish travel tech company rescued with an emergency €100 million financing deal during the pandemic, is set to be sold again in the coming months, according to the Business Post.
TowerBrook, a British private-equity group, took control of CarTrawler in return for a €100 million cash injection in 2020 after the business was thrown into debt restructuring talks amid Covid travel restrictions.
With the Dublin-based company now trading strongly and back to pre-pandemic levels of profitability, TowerBrook is understood to be considering an exit.
Spanish travel systems provider Amadeus, US payments firm Fleetcor and travel tech company Expedia are all understood by the Business Post to be interested in the Irish firm.
Cordiant eyes Speed
Cordiant Digital Infrastructure, an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange, is in advanced talks to purchase the owner of Enet, the open-access wholesale telecoms network, reports the Sunday Times.
Cordiant is believed by the newspaper to be close to finalising a deal with the Irish Infrastructure Fund (IIF) to buy Speed Fibre Group, which includes Enet and broadband company Magnet Plus.
Speed is expected to be worth in the region of €150 million.
Enet is best known as the manager of Ireland’s 88 metropolitan area networks (Mans) – fibre rings that connect 94 large regional towns to high-speed international networks.
