Cork Workers’ Party councillor Ted Tynan has described as “tremendous news” the settlement tonight (Wednesday) of the Vita Cortex dispute following a 139 day sit in by 32 workers at the Cork plant in order to get an acceptable redundancy deal.

Cllr. Tynan said that the news was what all of Cork had been waiting to hear and he praised the workers saying they had been an inspiration to the people of Cork, Ireland and the wider world.  Their dispute, he pointed out, had been just 6 days shorter than the Dublin Lockout of 1913 but unlike that dispute the Vita Cortex workers had ultimately won out.

“The Vita Cortex workers and their families”, said Cllr. Tynan, “have endured five months of hardship and uncertainty.  The strain on them and their wider families and communities must have been enormous but they saw it through with unstinting determination aided by the absolute justness of their cause”.

The Workers Party councillor concluded by saying it was now incumbent on the government and the trade union movement to ensure that no other workers in the future would have to endure such difficulties in achieving just settlement after their years of service. 

Issued 2nd May 2012