Go Redundant

employment.

dollars in Ireland.

Even the real robots get blown up Figures released by the Central Statistics Office for September showed the-total number of unemployed in the 26 Counties to be 69,726 — a rise of 8,727 on September last year. Areas where employment has dropped drastically are: Monaghan, Mullingar, Dundalk and Wexford. The C.S.O. are reportedly disturbed by the significant drop in employment in the areas of industrial While these figures were being reled$ed, Dr. Fitzgerald, Minister of Foreign Affairs boasted that 2 Californian companies were to invest a total of 13 million But the two Companies, Shaklee Corp., which produces cosmetics and cleaning agents for overseas markets, and hopes to open at Newbridge, Kildare and the Californian Pellet Co. which will open in Wexford, between them -will employ a grand total of not more than 100 Irish workers! While Fitzgerald preens himself at this ‘investment success’, more Irish workers join the dole queue — most of them from foreign owned companies. These companies are engaged in high capital investment as opposed to high labour investment ‘and once they have taken advantage of cheap labour, tax free profits and all the other perks the 26 Co. government hands 6ut, they can pack up and go home with their fortunes made, leaving Jrish workers to face the bread line.

This is clearly illustrated in the case of the factory owned by the American company Geneso, in Kinsale, Cork. Faced with an annual loss of £80,000 the owners have put the factory up for sale. The union sought a higher redundancy settlement for the workers so Geneso simply withdrew their previous offer. The workforce of this company represents 30% of Kinsale’s total employment and the workers have put an embargo on £m worth of goods and plan a sit in for better redundancy payment. This action is