Mayor slams 'disgraceful' treatment of Tipp hostel workers
The new mayor of Tipperary town has hit out at the 'disgraceful ' treatment of twenty three workers who were left without a job following the recent closure of the Tipperary Hostel Ltd.
The workers were engaged by FAS to work on the refurbishment project at the Tipperary Hostel which was shut down following the withdrawal of funding by one of the sponsoring government agencies, Pobal.
The workers are now in dispute with FAS and are bringing a case to the Labour Relations Commission and the Employment Appeals Tribunal
Mayor Billy Bourke said he was very concerned at the unfair treatment handed out to a dedicated group of workers. None of them had received redundancy payment after working for years on the refurbishment programme and now had to take their case to the Labour Court.
"They are a very dedicated group and they should not have been treated like this," insisted the mayor.
He proposed that the Town Council call on the parties involved, FAS and Pobal, to meet to resolve the matter.
"We should get everybody involved in this together around a table," said the mayor.
He was supported by the other members of Tipperary Town Council at their monthly meeting on Monday night. They came out in support of the workers and backed the mayor's proposal to bring the parties involved together to try and resolve the matter
Cllr Anna Tuohy Halligan said twenty three skilled workers were involved and everything should be done to get them back working on the hostel project which was almost finished.
"If there is anything this council can do to get everything back on track we should do it," she said.
Town Clerk Paul Murray said the council were the landlords of the building and there was a lease in place. A company was set up to manage the project and the manpower was provided by FAS. The issues involved
were not related to the town council as the council simply owned the building the project was located in and had made contributions to the project.
He informed the meeting that council officials had met the board of the Tipperary Hostel Ltd and the board had asked the council to consider sending an engineer to inspect the building and provide an estimate of what it would cost to finish the project. The board said that there may be a possible source of future funding.
The town clerk said they had advised the board of the security issues concerned but could not get involved in other issues related to the project.
"We have maintained contact with the board and we will support them but there are issues that only they can deal with. The staff issues are between the company and FAS. They are not our employees and it is not our scheme" he said.
The town clerk said they had undertaken to consider their request to provide expertise to look at the property to see what it would take to finish it.
He told the meeting that the board of the company was still operational but were depleted in number and they were trying to recruit people onto the board. It was their understanding that there were four remaining directors and their funding had been withdrawn by Pobal
The council, he said, also had a meeting with FAS concerning the withdrawal of manpower for the scheme.FAS said that the scheme was unique and such schemes were no longer carried out by FAS who said they looking to the future. If there was another sponsor or funding involved they would not rule out being involved.
Cllr. Ruaidhri Devitt said it would be a shame not to finish the project .
"Anything we can do to enable the project to be finished, we should do it," he said.
Cllr. Denis Leahy asked if the town clerk should sit on the board. Previous town clerks sat on the board and he felt it would be appropriate for the present town clerk to sit on it.
"Nobody wants to see money going down the swanee and a building going into dereliction after the millions that has been spent on it," he said.
"We should call FAS into this chamber to explain this. These twenty three men were left in limbo. It's a disgrace. The project has to be finished, these men are idle, who else is going to finish it," he said.
The members agreed to invite FAS and Pobal to a meeting with the town council.
"We should open all doors to try and get people together," he said.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Clonmel
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South
