Workers at Shannon based Element Six have voted in favour of taking industrial action over work practices.
Almost four hundred people are employed in Clare by the industrial diamond manufacturer. SIPTU represents the workers, 96% of whom voted for industrial action due to the proposed introduction of shift working in the grit section of Element Six.
Staff are also said to be motivated by a redundancy package that the company were set to propose, planned changes in the distribution centre of the plant plus the payment of shift premiums had also disgruntled workers.
A Labour Court case dealt with these issues in June of this year where it was recommended to present workers with the option of accepting a redundancy package or redeployment to another section of the plant. Both Element Six and SIPTU were encouraged to introduce terms under working unsociable hours.
It is reported that a meeting will take place this Saturday to decide what course of industrial action will be taken.
Formerly known as De Beers, Element Six opened in Shannon fifty three years ago. The synthetic diamond supermaterials company is a global leader in the design, development and production of synthetic diamond supermaterials, and operates worldwide with its head office registered in Luxembourg, and primary manufacturing facilities in China, Germany, South Africa, US, the UK as well as Shannon.