On May 15, workers at Covalen, an outsourcing firm employing 2,500, struck over proposed layoffs cutting up to 720 Dublin jobs. The strike was called by the Communication Workers Union (CWU). Over 300 workers at Covalen have already been made redundant since November, after being given minimal notice, and will receive only statutory redundancy pay despite the company recording millions in profit.
To make matters worse, the tech giant Meta, which contracts Covalen, has a policy preventing laid-off employees from working for other contractors for six months. Meta itself cut its workforce in Ireland by 40 percent since 2022, and announced 350 more layoffs just days after the Covalen strike. These redundancies are part of wider AI-related cuts from tech multinationals in Ireland, including Amazon, Oracle, PayPal, Stripe, and Google.
This is not the CWU’s first action at Covalen this year. CWU members working at Covalen went on strike in January, demanding union recognition. Under Ireland’s draconian anti-union laws, employers are not legally obliged to recognise or negotiate with unions. Moreover, Covalen bosses have cited a High Court ruling on the 406-day-long Debenhams picket in 2020 to justify mass layoffs without union consultation.
Members of the RCI attended the picket line on May 15 to show solidarity with the striking workers. Our comrades were told that the executives are targeting workers employed for under two years, as they don’t qualify for statutory redundancy. The proposed layoffs include 400 such workers, who will be left wageless amid skyrocketing rents.
Much of Covalen’s staff are immigrant workers not entitled to social welfare, who cannot survive 6 months without a payslip. Given Ireland’s cost of living and precarious job market, younger workers without experience are increasingly forced to leave the country for better conditions.
One young renter at the picket line, whose 500-person project is being shut down, told us that Covalen workers were tasked with training the AI that is now being used to replace them. He said that the bosses ignored their grievances wholesale, driving more workers to unionise. “Don’t think your voice doesn’t matter, because the more we are, the more powerful we are,” he added.
The CWU’s key demands are union recognition and improved redundancy packages. However, many workers on the picket line went further with chants and placards calling for no cuts to jobs. We completely agree; If workers are united and organised, they have the power to fight these redundancies. Other demands include a waiver of the six month ‘cooling-off’ period and transparency surrounding the finances of CPL, Covalen’s parent company, so that workers have the information needed for negotiations.
Our comrades asked John Bohan, an organiser of the CWU picket, what he’d say to young workers sick of their conditions. “Stand up and fight back”, he said. “Employers don’t need to have a placid labour market; We’re here to cause trouble. If people want peace, they’ll have to pay for it.”
Young people are told education guarantees security, but today university graduates are ground down by unaffordable housing, overstretched public services, and an increasingly hostile job market. Each day, thousands more learn through experience that there is no tolerable future for them under capitalism!
Another picket is taking place on May 22, and our comrades will be there to show solidarity with the Covalen workers and their struggle.
Victory to the Covalen workers!
