30 let go at Schivo siteto get statutory only

Thirty workers have been made redundant at the former Schivo plant in Maydown and will now have to seek the minimum statutory payouts available as the rest of the workforce completes the final orders on the factory books and administrators try to find a last minute buyer to keep it open.

Liam Gallagher from the Unite trade union said fifty three staff will continue working at the plant in hope that a ‘white knight’ comes in to save the factory, which under the Molins, MPE and Schivo brands has been in operation for fifty years.

“Unite have been speaking with the workers and the administrators and there are 30 people who have now been made redundant and will have to apply to the Department for their statutory redundancy payments,” said Mr. Gallagher.

The trade unionist said the union will be assisting workers through this difficult period but said he was appalled at the meagre payouts being made available to workers.

Mr. Gallagher said the wider Schivo group, which controlled Schivo NI. Ltd. was well able to pay more than the week or week-and-a-half per year statutory minimum payouts that will now be made available to workers.

“We’re very, very concerned. We’re appalled at the way the workers were treated here given that many of them are long-standing employees and given the fact that only recently the company praised the workers on how they had been helpful in assisting the firm in carrying out its restructuring.

”The Schivo group is a company with a very healthy balance sheet and for workers to be left applying for statutory redundancy is a terrible indictment,” said Mr. Gallagher.

The fifty three remaining workers will continue to complete orders at the Maydown factory while the administrators continue to seek a last minute rescue.

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