SIPTU has called on the management of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) to attend a conciliation conference facilitated by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to discuss job losses and cuts in staff working hours at the charity. SIPTU Organiser, Karen Smollen, said: “SIPTU is seeking an urgent meeting at the LRC with the management of the DSPCA to discuss the impact of proposed job losses and cuts to workers’ hours. In recent days the DSPCA has informed two members of staff they are to be made redundant, while the working hours of eight others have been reduced. Most of the affected workers deliver care to animals at the DSPCA Charity Shelter in Rathfarnham, county Dublin.“Beyond informing staff at the end of April that the Society was in financial difficulties, management have not consulted with or provided information to them or their union on the rationale behind its decision. Management has also not provided workers with an opportunity to present alternative proposals."She added: “Management claims that the Society is running at a deficit are of great concern to workers who have made significant improvements to its running in recent years in order to improve the financial position.“Some of the workers who have been told that their jobs are to go, or whose hours are to be cut, are long serving members of staff with a wealth of experience. They could offer more to the Society by staying in their current positions delivering this much needed service to distressed animals in the greater Dublin Area while alternative solutions to redundancies and reduced working hours are explored.”The LRC has acknowledged the SIPTU request for the convening of an urgent conciliation conference to which the management of the DSPCA will be invited to attend.
SIPTU seeks LRC meeting over threatened DSPCA job losses
