{"id":631074,"date":"2026-08-11T05:23:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T05:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/631074\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T05:23:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T05:23:20","slug":"staff-at-oat-producer-flahavans-plant-in-waterford-to-vote-on-industrial-action-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/631074\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff at oat producer Flahavan\u2019s plant in Waterford to vote on industrial action \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Workers at Flahavan\u2019s, the leading oat producer behind well-known porridge, cereal and biscuit brands, have decided \u201cto ballot for industrial action\u201d at the company\u2019s plant in Co Waterford<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The union that represents the majority of workers at Flahavan\u2019s said this was a result of the company\u2019s \u201cunilateral attempt to tie a new pay deal to a flexibility arrangement\u201d that it has \u201cneither seen nor negotiated\u201d. <\/p>\n

Unite<\/a>\u2019s Ireland regional officer, Eoin Drummey, told The Irish Times that 76 of Flahavan\u2019s near 90 workers within the union attended an extraordinary general meeting it organised over the weekend.<\/p>\n

There, they \u201cunanimously rejected\u201d the \u201cflexibility arrangement\u201d proposed by their employer, Drummey said. However, he was unable to provide details of the arrangement as he said the union had yet to see its contents.<\/p>\n

The vote to strike is to open on Wednesday and will close on August 21st.<\/p>\n

This follows five to six months of pay negotiations between Flahavan\u2019s and Unite, he added, in which his side sought a pay increase over the next 18 months and pay parity between bakery staff and mill workers.<\/p>\n

The company \u201csought to make an exception to the agreement we had come to\u201d with the introduction of the flexibility arrangement, Drummey said. <\/p>\n

Responding to queries from The Irish Times, a spokesperson for Flahavan\u2019s said it was \u201csurprised and disappointed by the decision\u201d from its staff. The company \u201cgreatly values our employees and the positive working relationship we have built together over many years\u201d, she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been engaged in discussions with our employees and their representatives regarding a new pay agreement and associated working arrangements, and remain committed to reaching a fair and sustainable agreement that supports both our employees and the long-term success of the business,\u201d the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it would not be appropriate to comment on the detail of ongoing discussions, we believe the outstanding matters can be resolved through continued constructive engagement and the established industrial relations process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drummey said the union \u201cremains available to engage with the company if it withdraws its insistence that the acceptance of new flexibility forms part of the new pay deal\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t about Unite seeking out confrontation, this is about Flahavan\u2019s conducting proper industrial relations,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the company wants a flexible arrangement, then it must be negotiated with the union.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat members will not accept is a previously unseen and unnegotiated agreement introduced unilaterally by the company tied to a pay deal. We have made our position very clear, it is now up to the company to decide what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unite\u2019s general secretary, Sharon Graham, said: \u201cOur members\u2019 dedication and expertise have made Flahavan\u2019s a household name throughout Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt beggars belief that it has chosen to tear up normal industrial relations procedures and demand workers sign up to an unseen and unagreed policy.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Workers at Flahavan\u2019s, the leading oat producer behind well-known porridge, cereal and biscuit brands, have decided \u201cto ballot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17,11799,5049],"class_list":["post-631074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-unite","tag-waterford"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117075208389164349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}