Industrial action at Bausch+Lomb’s Waterford manufacturing plant has been averted after staff voted to accept new pay conditions.
The deal, which was supported by over 80% of Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) staff, has resulted in a 3.75 per cent pay rise this month. They will also receive a one-off payment of €500 in recognition of the time elapsed since the end of August when the term for previous conditions expired.
Further increases of 3.25% in January 2018 and 2.5% in 2019 will see salaries increase by 9.5% over the lifetime of the agreement. Staff will also get three extra days holiday per year and coverage of the company sick pay scheme will be extended to five weeks from the current three.
The company welcomed the outcome and said it now looked forward to ‘sustained stability in the future which can hopefully support growth and investment in the business in Waterford.’
‘From our perspective, when you add up the 2014 cuts on jobs and pay, over the period our membership lost nothing. Employment at the Waterford plant is now higher than at that time,’ said Gerry McCormack, manufacturing division organiser for SIPTU.