| 19 November 2009 |
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O'Kane Calls 'Fowl' As EC Threatens Jobs |
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New EU regulations are forcing big changes in the poultry industry in Northern Ireland with well over 100 jobs threatened in Co Antrim.
O'Kane, the leading poultry processor in the country, is likely to shed around 140 people from its plant in Ballymena.
The factory's management has held several meetings with workers over its future plans, which include this high number of redundancies.
O'Kane managers explained the situation is partly caused for one of the new EU regulations that will come into effect next May, which bans the sale of chicken as fresh produce after it has been defrosted.
The workforce has been placed on statutory 90-day protective notice period to prepare for the lay-offs and while the union declined to make any comment they did say they are currently dealing with a confidential and sensitive issue.
The area's DUP MLA, Ian Paisley Jr, commented that the possibility of 140 dismissed workers is "worrying" and said he will meet with the plant owners and will raise their needs with the Government.
He stated further problems are looming in this industry unless a solution to "unnecessary and restrictive EU regulations" on poultry waste is found.
SDLP MLA Declan O'Loan said he knew that the company was doing its best to manage the situation, and is fully consulting the workforce.
Moreover, he expressed his sympathies to all the individuals who have just been informed that they will lose their jobs, receiving "horrible news in the run up to Christmas".
According to BBC NI Business Reporter Eddie O'Gorman, the poultry business is an industry where profit margins are small.
Speaking on Radio Ulster this morning, he said: "O'Kane's faces strong competition from big multinational producers elsewhere in the UK and overseas."
Three years ago O'Kane closed down a subsidiary company in Limerick, called Castlemahon Foods, to concentrate production at its Ballymena poultry processing plant.
This plant, which employs about 1,500 people, was founded in 1932 by the late W.P. O'Kane and has remained in family ownership since then.
Nowadays it operates two feed mills, three hatcheries and three processing plant.
(CL/BMcC) |
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