A team leader for the outsourcing company Abtran, who at one point worked on their account with Electric Ireland, said that they would bully any members of their team who joined a trade union.
Reddit user DannyFoley96 (whose account and posts have since been deleted) made posts threatening Abtran employees who were engaging in or considering engaging in unionisation under a thread titled “Anyone working for Abtran interested in unionisation”.
“What a load of bs, let me guess you worked here bit could never make TL
“I’m a TL here and can tell u know this won’t work. If I found any of my team where joinin union id bully dem until she quits.”
The right to be a member of a trade union is a constitutional one, and an employee cannot be penalised for being a member of a trade union, which this Team Leader says explicitly that they will do.
In screenshots of Foley’s now-deleted posts seen by Forward, he also frequently engages in racist and misogynistic posting across a number of subreddits.
The Independent Worker’s Union, which is currently engaged in helping Abtran employees unionise in the company’s Cork and Sligo offices, sent records of Foley’s posts to Abtran out of concern for the staff under his management.
However, despite the union receiving confirmation that the company had received the records, no action was taken and Foley is still in his position.
The IWU has been engaging in helping to unionise Abtran workers for a number of months.
Workers launched a pay claim with the company in May, asking for pay to be raised to €15 per hour, to increase to €18 per hour over the next five years. They also requested the return of 15-minute “welfare breaks”.
In July the workers balloted for industrial action, which was carried by an overwhelming majority.
This action was taken this month, and was met with threats of discipline by Abtran towards workers, despite their having followed all the procedure necessary to make the industrial action legitimate as far as legislation is concerned.
The tactic being employed by Abtran are nothing more than intimidation and the IWU’s members will not be swayed by such cheap tactics.
If you work in Abtran and want to see your workplace change for the better, join the Independent Worker’s Union via their website.