Unite win for Mayo Westrock workers as up to 10.2% secured in two-year deal

Lowest-paid to see 7.2% uplift this year

Deal sends strong signal to new Smurfit WestRock combination

Trade union Unite, which represents workers in WestRock’s Westport facility in Mayo, today (Sunday) announced that members have voted to accept a two-year pay deal worth up to 10.2% over two years. 

The agreement negotiated at the Workplace Relations Commission will see the lowest paid group of workers receive a 7.2% pay increase this year.

The deal includes an additional day of annual leave, as well as a commitment to recognise long service in the 2026 pay talks.  The company has also agreed to review sick leave arrangements.

Based in the US, WestRock is one of the world’s largest paper and packaging companies.  Last autumn Irish-based multinational Smurfit-Kappa announced a planned merger with Westrock, due to be completed in July this year.  The deal is reported to be worth over $21 billion and the new entity, which will be the largest listed global packaging company by revenue, will trade as Smurfit WestRock.

Commenting, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:

Unite warns workers not to depend on government gifting rights

May Day lesson is that progress must be fought for says union’s Irish Secretary

May 1st: Speaking in Dublin ahead of International Workers’ Day, Unite’s Irish Secretary Susan Fitzgerald warned workers that fundamental rights will not be gifted by government without a fight.  Referring to the need to transpose the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages – which requires governments to promote collective bargaining – by 15 November, Ms Fitzgerald said that the trade union movement should not accept anything less than full collective bargaining legislation and statutory union recognition.

A recent University College Dublin (UCD) study found that 44 per cent of non-union workers would vote to establish a union in their workplace – and that figure rises to over half for women and around two-thirds for young workers aged 16 to 24.

Pointing to the recent vote for union recognition by Seagate workers in Northern Ireland, Ms Fitzgerald said:

Stormont budget failure risks strikes during school exam period

Unite calls on four education unions to stand and strike together for improved pay

Unite officials and workforce reps have begun coordinating the union’s industrial response, due to the Stormont budget failing to provide anything for low paid education workers.

The pay and grading review that the education department was instructed to implement to tackle low pay and inequalities in 2018, is set to remain unfunded for a seventh year threatening an even worse staffing crisis in the sector.

A letter from education minister Paul Givan to the education unions confirmed that “the allocations provided do not include funding for the pay and grading review”. He also admitted that school support workers, who include special educational needs classroom assistants and bus escorts as well as education bus drivers, are “among the lowest paid in the sector and doing vital work supporting children and young people”. He ended by calling on the unions to work with his department on the issue and offered a meeting with his deputy secretary to “discuss the way forward”.

Unite regional secretary Susan Fitzgerald said: “Yesterday’s Stormont budget failed the overwhelmingly female school support workforce and it failed children. This workforce has waited six years for the pay and grading review needed to raise pay and deliver equality. Low paid education workers are being told to wait another year – but our members will wait no longer.  

“Unite will now seek to progress a common industrial response with the other education unions. The four unions need to stand and strike together to win improved pay for all education workers.”

Unite to coordinate on strikes after finance minister fails to deliver pay and grading review

School support staff in Unite prepare to recommence strike action

Unite’s members in education have responded with disappointment and anger after being informed by the education minister that the Northern Ireland executive has adopted a budget that fails to provide the funding needed for the long awaited pay and grading review for school support staff.

The decision comes despite the department of finance having accepted the department of education’s business case for the review. The national joint committee, the body which sets pay for education workers in Northern Ireland, first instructed the pay and grading review should be delivered six years ago in 2018, to address equality and low pay concerns.

Unite members employed by the education authority have taken strike action repeatedly over the last two years about the issue.

Unite represents education workers across a variety of low paid positions including classroom assistants, bus drivers, bus escorts, catering, admin and other school support staff. Pay rates in 2023-24 for workers who provide personal care to special educational needs children, including on occasion having to conduct medical and life-saving procedures, can be as low as £11.92 an hour.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is disgraceful that low paid education workers are being told that there’s no money to fund a pay and grading review needed to deliver pay equality – six years after the NJC instructed it to be delivered.

Tara Mines: Unite says Boliden must commit to long-term future following agreement

Unions secure core pay for remaining workers, improved voluntary redundancy terms

Unite, which represents craft and staff grades at Tara Mines, today (Wednesday) said that the proposed agreement negotiated last night at the Workplace Relations Commission represents a significant improvement on the scheme proposed by Tara Mines owner Boliden in January. The union said that, if the agreement is accepted by a ballot of workers, the company must commit to the long-term future of Tara Mines.

The proposed agreement stipulates that all redundancies will be voluntary where they arise, and unions have secured redundancy terms of five weeks per year of service capped at two years – a significant improvement on the company’s original proposals. The voluntary severance process is expected to take approximately one month.

Unions have also secured core pay for the remaining workforce, with bonuses and other payments to be negotiated.

Commenting, Unite regional officer Brian Hewitt said: