By Joe Higgins, MEP.
I notice IBEC’s have put up pro-Lisbon posters across the country proclaiming “yes for jobs”, linking the accepting of the treaty with job protection. Is this some form of sick joke from the bosses organisation?
The true record of IBEC’s members regarding the preservation of jobs tells a different story. While IBEC do not publicly list which employers belong to it we can draw some conclusions when we look at the recent record of the companies to which some of its high profileofficers belong.
Donal Byrne of Cadbury’s Ireland and Director of IBEC has overseen 200 sackings this year. Tony O’Brien of C&C and Director of IBEC pushed through 120 redundancies at Bulmers. Gary McCann of Smurfit Kappa and member of the Board of IBEC has overseen 140 job cuts
All these highly profitable firms have laid waste to the livelihoods of hundreds of workers and their families. How many more examples could be cited from the ranks of IBEC’s members? How IBEC’s mock concern for jobs must feel like a sick joke to many of the people they have thrown on the dole queue?
