Workers at a HP subsidiary have deferred the second of two 24-hour stoppages at the firm's plant in Co Dublin following the appointment of an independent mediator to facilitate a resolution.
On Tuesday engineers and technicians employed by HP Customer Delivery Systems staged a work stoppage in a row over job security, redundancy terms and pay and conditions.
Today’s stoppage was called off after informal contacts between the Department of Enterprise, Congress and Ibec took place last night.
Industrial relations consultant Liam Doherty will make himself available to the parties to hear all outstanding issues in an effort to broker a settlement.
The row developed when 40 Irish Bank Officials’ Association (IBOA) members at the Leixlip plant say management at the company has refused to engage with the union representing them.
However, management at the company say it is “fully committed” to meeting and engaging with employees in an attempt to resolve this issue.
A statement read: “Attempts by the company to date to enter into dialogue with employees through the company’s own internal staff representative body have been refused.
“At all times, HP has honoured its commitments and has operated in accordance with its company procedures in an effort to resolve this issue in a fair and reasonable manner.”
IBOA general secretary Larry Broderick welcomed last night’s initiative and said his union would co-operate fully and positively with the mediator in an effort to bring a prompt resolution to all of the issues in dispute.
The workers provide maintenance services for a range of electronic equipment including bank ATM machines and point-of-sale devices in shops. They also maintain computer systems in a number of Government departments including the processing of social welfare cheques.
