A protest took place in St Peter’s Square today to demonstrate against an international company’s treatment of four former workers.
About a dozen people took part in the protest in support of the Murphy Four, a group of four fitters and welders with 50 years of combined service at Murphy International.
The Unite union claims the group were unfairly dismissed from the company in an act of ‘union busting’, the act of reducing or removing the power of trade unions.
Murphy has refuted these assertions, stating: “The claims regarding the reason for the dismissals and allegations of union busting are factually incorrect.”
Unite claims the four were dismissed for organising a meeting of 15 workers to discuss Murphy’s non-payment for travel and subsistence expenses.
It says the workers were allegedly suspended for around two months without pay, before being singled out and sacked for failing to show sufficient “remorse”, according to leaflets distributed at the protest.
Despite pressure put on Murphy by Unite, the company has so far failed to secure the reinstatement of the workers.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Murphy’s behaviour is deplorable and it is guilty of flagrant union busting.
“Unite will never allow such attacks on members to go unchallenged and we will leave no stone unturned until Murphy does the right thing and reinstates these workers.”
Murphy International Ltd. is an Irish specialist engineering and construction company established in 1951.
In response to the protests, Murphy issued this statement to Mancunian Matters: “We categorically refute Unite’s misleading claims concerning the nature of this case.
“The claims regarding the reason for the dismissals and allegations of union busting are factually incorrect.
“Murphy International Limited acted in response to unballoted, unnotified, and therefore unlawful strike action taken by a small minority of workers at our Aughinish site in Limerick, Ireland. Murphy has had a presence on site for over 40 years, enjoying good industrial relations on the site. All its employees who work on the site are members of trade unions.”
A spokesman for Murphy added the firm, which operates across the UK, Ireland and Canada, hopes to end the dispute.
“The company has always indicated that it is open to resolving this matter amicably and sensibly,” the statement continued.
“We remain committed to maintaining an open dialogue with all parties around this issue to try to draw a line under this matter. This matter is currently subject to legal proceedings in Ireland.”
