300 laid off temporarily at Kilkenny meat plant as owners blame blockades
By COLIN BARTLEY
THREE-hundred workers were laid-off overnight at a meat processing plant in county Kilkenny as a result of the beef crisis.
Dawn Meats in Grannagh, informed the 300 staff yesterday evening their jobs were being cut.
Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the umbrella group representing the meat processors, says the latest lay-offs mean over 3,000 temporary jobs have been lost nationwide over the course of the dispute.
The Grannagh meat plant has been subjected to a blockade by the newly formed group Independent Farmers of Ireland (IFOI) for the past ten days.
The group resumed protests outside the plant after rejecting recommendations from round table tables talks between farmers, processors and the department of agriculture.
Some of the meat processors have brought legal action against some of the protestors, while yesterday the processors refused to re-enter round table talks until the blockades are lifted at their plants.
The farmers are looking for better prices for the beef they produce, saying they cannot survive at the prices they are being paid at present.
Dawn Meats says staff will also be laid off at a number of other plants as a result of the ongoing blockade.