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 A delegation of Sinn Féin representatives joined workers from Glen Dimplex on Thursday during their strike action outside the company’s Newry plant.

Staff were striking after pay negotiations with management collapsed. 

Newry MLA Conor Murphy, MP Mickey Brady and Councillor Valerie Harte joined workers on the picket line. 

Mr Murphy said it was the company’s duty to engage with its workers. 

“We have spoken to the staff here on the picket line and it’s quite clear that they do not want to be striking today; they have been forced into this position by management’s refusal to engage meaningfully with them,” he said.

“These are very dedicated workers; people who have been loyal employees of the company for decades, some of them with 30 or 40 plus years of service; they are not the type of people who would make a decision like this flippantly. 

“They’re not asking for anything beyond what will allow the staff to keep up with the cost of living.  Their demands are completely reasonable and I think, given the years of loyal service and experience they have here, the company has a duty to engage in proper negotiations with the workers and their representatives.”

MP Mickey Brady said negotiating was not only the appropriate thing to do but the right thing to do. 

“We’ve been talking to the staff a lot today and as well as a sense of anger at the intransigence of management there is a very genuine sense of hurt that a company they have worked for for so long could dismiss their very modest requests so thoughtlessly,” he said. 

“Their demands are not unreasonable and in this case in particular, given the years of service, I would say engaging with the staff and their representatives is not only the appropriate thing for Glen Dimplex to do but the right thing, indeed the decent thing.”