Element Six Job Massacre a Disgusting Stab in the Back of Workers

limerick | worker & community struggles and protests | press release Friday July 24, 2009 16:33 by Limerick Socialist Party - Socialist Party limericksocialist at gmail dot com

Press release of the Limerick Socialist Party

The announcement by Element Six that it is to close its manufacturing base in the Shannon Free Zone has been slammed as “a disgusting stab in the back” and the redundancy package was called "derisory", by the Limerick Socialist Party this morning.

Spokesperson for the Socialist Party, David Vallely, said "The plan of Element Six to sack 370 workers is a disgusting stab in the back of the workers who made this the biggest diamond company in the world.

"After forty years of making profits off the back of their workers in Ireland, they now want to jump ship. Workers must ask: where have the millions in profits of the last 40 years disappeared to? Element Six should be forced to open the books from the past years, and explain where these profits have gone, especially considering the derisory redundancy package that has been offered. The profits the company made during the boom must now be reinvested in the recession to safeguard jobs.

"Losing your job in this economic climate means long term unemployment, that is why workers must fight not just for improved redundancy, but also to save the jobs. The sit in protest in February in Element Six is a miniature example of the kind of fight that now must be waged. Workers in Waterford Crystal and the Visteon factory in Belfast have shown that through organisation and workplace occupations, concessions and victories can be won. This fight is needed to draw a line under the race to the bottom being imposed by the bosses in an attempt to slash and burn all wages, making the crisis worse."