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10 September, 2005
SIPTU, Ireland’s general workers’ union, is waging a campaign for recognition, pay gains and work improvements at a Merck KgaA pharmaceutical laboratory in Baldoyle, Dublin. The union has sought and won a determination from an Irish Labour Court under a rare application for indirect representation under the amended Industrial Relations Act. The court ordered Gerard Laboratories, or Merck KGaA, the German firm’s European manufacturing arm for generic drugs, to increase rates of pay, introduce a sick-pay plan, and spell out grievance and disciplinary procedures, as well as recognise SIPTU as bargaining representative. The union has the solid backing of Merck’s EWC in efforts to bring the company to the bargaining table.