SOUTH Antrim MP William McCrea has called on the government to make changes to redundancy legislation in order to ensure that workers' rights are protected.
The DUP man made his appeal last week during a meeting with Ian Lucas MP, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Business and Regulatory Reform, regarding job losses at Nortel operations throughout the UK.
Mr McCrea was joined at the meeting by Eas
t Antrim MP Sammy Wilson and Tory MP for Maidenhead, Theresa May, whose constituency has also been affected by job cuts at Nortel.
Back in March the Canadian-owned telecommunications company made around 90 redundancies at its Doagh Road plant - part of some 220 job cuts across its UK operations. Many of those who lost their jobs, without prior notice or consultation, were long-serving employees. They are still fighting for redundancy and pension payments, with many pursuing legal action in a bid to get what they're owed.
While administrators Ernst and Young have stressed that they "worked within the framework of insolvency legislation and employment laws" during the redundancy process at Nortel, Mr McCrea condemned the move to lay off long-serving workers without notice as "intolerable" and "an offence to common decency."
"The redundancy practices at Nortel by Ernst and Young are to be condemned. The manner of treatment to long-serving, faithful staff was intolerable," he commented.
During their discussions with Mr Lucas, the delegation raised concerns regarding "serious weaknesses" that exist within the current legislation regarding redundancy practices, arguing that employee rights must be protected. They also called on the government to take action to establish employee tribunals to explore the pension rights of those affected by the lay-offs.
Over the past seven months ex-employees have staged regular protests outside the gates of the Monkstown plant demanding redundancy and pension payments. Several of those involved in the demonstrations had more than 30 years of service at the Doagh Road manufacturing facility, which opened in the 1960s as Standard Telephone and Cables.
Around 400 people are now employed at the site, which is the headquarters of Nortel's European, Middle East and Africa supply chain operations.
Nortel's UK operation went into administration in January after its parent firm filed for US bankruptcy protection.
