The Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU), Ireland’s largest trade union, will meet with Lakeland Dairies in an attempt to avoid the closure of the latter’s facilities in Co. Monaghan.
The trade union said that its representatives will meet with the management of Lakeland to discuss the processor’s announcement this week that it would be closing a number of its plants.
These include plants in Monaghan town and Lough Egish, Co. Monaghan.
The company announced its intention to close its milk drying facility in Lough Egish in June 2024 and its liquid milk processing plant in Monaghan town in the first quarter of 2025.
It is understood that 78 jobs will be impacted by these closures.
Denis Gormalley, SIPTU’s agriculture, ingredients, food, and drink sector organiser, said: “The threat to jobs posed by this announcement has left the workers and their families in a state of shock.
“The company has cited the creation of further processing efficiencies and the evolving environmental realities and regulatory direction in milk supply as the driving force for the proposed closure of these long-established dairy manufacturing facilities,” Gormalley added.
He said that he and other SIPTU representatives will “examine and interrogate” Lakeland’s stated reason for the move, and will “explore all possible alternatives” when they meet with the processor’s management.
Lidia Cichocka, an industrial organiser with SIPTU, said: “Our members employed at the plants are facing an uncertain future. They were devastated when they were informed of the proposed closure.
“We will leave no stone unturned in our quest to save as many jobs as possible in our engagement with the company management,” Cichocka added.
Lakeland announced yesterday (Wednesday, November 15) that it plans to close three of its facilities over the next 16 months in order to cut overhead expenses.
The cooperative has said that the plan is part of a new strategic direction and will mean “realigning its processing footprint to maximise operational efficiencies and enhance value-add capabilities for the future”.
The board of Lakeland Dairies has approved a plan where liquid milk production will transfer from Lakeland Dairies Monaghan to Lakeland Dairies Killeshandra, Co. Cavan.
All other bulk milk-handling activities will transfer to other Lakeland Dairies sites. This will result in the closure of the Monaghan site in quarter one 2025 as a major development project will now commence at Lakeland Dairies Killeshandra to process liquid milk there.
It is envisaged that, following the ending of production in quarter one of 2025, a process to sell the Monaghan site will take place.
Milk drying facilities at Lough Egish, Co. Monaghan will close in June 2024. Milk will continue to be processed at other sites, namely Lakeland Dairies Bailieboro and Killeshandra, Co. Cavan; Newtownards, Co. Down; Ballyrashane, Co. Derry; and Artigarvan, Co. Tyrone.
Outside of the Republic of Ireland, the site in Banbridge, Co. Down, which has acted as a butter churning and packing and powder storage site, with no milk being directly processed there for many years, will close in June.
The process of selling the Banbridge site will commence shortly.