Two workers have been sacked by Italian confectionary corporation Ferrero for changing the recipe on a batch of Tic-Tac sweets at its Cork plant.
Declan Cotter and Lisa Ryan O’Connor were sacked for “gross misconduct”, but the Employment Appeals Tribunal has found that the two were “unfairly dismissed” by the firm, saying it did not feel the punishment fitted the “crime”.
The tribunal has ordered Ferrero to pay €19,000 to Mr Cotter and €10,000 to Ms Ryan O’Connor.
SIPTU organiser John Cooney yesterday said the action in sacking the two was “petty”.
Not sure what aspect of this moronic case is more troubling (shared from another post). A. Siptu defending the tic tac workers, B. The willingness of this EAT to take on such a bullshit case, or C. Shortsightedness of stupid employees for taking the case and highlighting their irresponsibility - a Pyrrhic victory for sure.
Has one Cork public representative or TD stood up for tic tac and their rights? Has anyone suggested the EAT should be terminated? How can ida or Siptu seriously appeal to foreign food companies to set up in ireland?
Yet another Valid reason for Irish Manufacturing to head East .
I wonder will Ferrero appeal the decision or if they can?
It looks like the people running the show won’t be happy until there isn’t a job left
apart from their own , and no one in the Private sector to pay them .
I’m amused by the references to tic-tacs as “food”.
It reminds me of that Red Dwarf episode where Lister is marooned on an icy planet and only has to eat (as Wikipedia reminds me) “a Pot Noodle, half a bag of soggy smoky bacon crisps, a tin of mustard powder, three water biscuits, a brown lemon, 2 bottles of vinegar, and a tube of Bonjella gum ointment”.
Does anyone know what they did to the tic tacs? Were they trying to create some new awesome-o flavour?
The employment appeals tribunal is handing out thousands to “wronged” employees every week. Have a look through the decisions, they are in my opinion laughably one sided. Any chance they get to give an individual money that they are taking from an employer, they take it. Decisions here: eatribunal.ie/en/Decisions_Determinations/
What kind of message does it send when this Quango/ legal bureaucracy (ie EAT) awards people compensation in fairly spurious circumstances?
Prospective employers think the country is a joke. Does society want jobs or do they want to leg over employers?
Employees think the “employer” is a deep pocket which can afford to dole out funds.
What if the company couldn’t pay the 30k compensation and shut the factory down. What if it was a tiny 2 man operation and one guy sued the colleague/owner? Call Joe Duffy?
Where are our political leaders and the IDA on this? Do they give a shit? This really makes me mad. In the real world, a job is not a right; it’s a privilege.
A job is neither a right or a privilege, it’s a simple exchange of value between two parties which is regulated in various ways by the State like various other transactions.
One thing that intrigues me more as an idiosyncratic aspect of being a self employeed tax unit (tax robots you all are… ask Larry) I have to pay for an emplyees own freetime but no one (third party) pays for mine. I didn’t get to use their freetime. They didn’t lend it to me. I can’t buy more in and deduct it against my free time to get more.
I should not write this for fear of rupturing the pin time continuum but a recent anecdote came my way of admin position in a section of the public sector mentioning they could not wait to “have the summer off”, as in they seemingly had holidays, flexi-time and sick day lined up in a row and was going to enjoy something like an 8 week break!?!?!? I don’t fully believe it, but it’s not the first time I have heard anecdote of sick leave being at least treated / seen as valid and entitled leave sick or not. I thought there was a change to this recently under Joan’s watch?
These anecdotes often seem to creep out when their is a private operator in-situ for a few months or those who are new having worked for a long time in private companies find themselves in a short term contract or new position in a part of the public employing body aka as the State continually marveling at the various “practices”.
So is it any wonder you have the unions supporting this kind of behavior via the kangaroos courts?
What happens if a big player say “no”, is it only the threat of union action that mandates them to pay?
I’ve a friend working for a private company providing services to the Hospitals of Ireland. He can’t believe how well paid the incompetent staff are and they are always his obstacle to getting the job done. So…today he has applied for an open vacancy in one of the hospitals. If you can’t beat them then join them. The position isn’t a medical position.
The holiday regime is a bit different tin the US and maybe Canada as I think typically you get less guaranteed days off. Japan I think is even worse in that respect.
