News

Trade union Unite has threatened to take action against Smurfit Kappa if the company does not increase the redundancy package on offer to 140 staff at the group’s Coolock plant near Dublin.

Smurfit Kappa postponed talks with Unite in late May while its board clarified whether it could increase its existing redundancy package. Earlier in the month the company confirmed it would shut the plant.

Unite GPM official Brendan Byrne said: “We are prepared to take it to the labour court if this is what members want.”

The decision to close the plant came after months of talks and the failure of a survival plan involving restructuring, wage cuts and redundancies.