A Meta policy which prevents employees of one contractor for the company being employed by another for at least six months has been criticised by representatives of the more than 700 Covalen workers set to lose their jobs over the coming weeks.
Some of the workers are said to have had offers of alternative employment withdrawn because of it. Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
“We have people at Covalen and Accenture who are currently looking for jobs because of redundancy situations and they are being approached by recruiters who then ask what sort of projects they have worked on and for companies, and as soon as they hear it’s a Meta contract they say: ‘Sorry, we can’t hire you’, says Communications Workers’ Union organiser John Bohan.
“There are still quite a lot of jobs at agencies doing work for companies related to Meta,” he says, “but because of the six-month cooling-off period the workers aren’t eligible to take them up. They are told that will change after six months but they have to live for that time.”
RM Block
Industry sources say such policies are industry standard and there is nothing to stop people being employed by other contractors as long as they do not work on Meta projects during the six-month period. The union, however, suggests the Meta projects are where much of the available work is.
Covalen workers, meanwhile, a small number of whom protested outside Leinster House on Friday before a scheduled gathering at the company’s head office, said a small number of staff, up to 20 they estimated, had been offered redeployment over the course of the consultation period and they remain hopeful that some more jobs can be saved.
[ Meta to lay off 350 staff from its Irish officesOpens in new window ]
There has been no shift in the company’s position on paying only statutory redundancy, they say, however. Under the terms on offer, a majority of those losing their positions, about 400, will receive no redundancy payment at all because they have less than the required two years of service.
Covalen, a subsidiary of CPL, which provides content moderation and other services to Meta, says it continues to engage with and support staff whose roles are at risk.
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There was some frustration among those protesting on Friday at the differences between the terms on offer to them and those offered this week to the 350 staff set to lose their jobs with Meta itself.
At Meta, all staff are understood to be guaranteed a basic 16 weeks’ pay in severance plus two weeks for each year of service as well as extended health insurance, immigration and job-seeking support.
[ Meta Ireland staff shrinks 50% from Covid peakOpens in new window ]
There was criticism too of the Minister of Employment, Peter Burke, with staff saying many had written letters seeking assistance but had received formulaic responses suggesting the State’s industrial machinery was available to them despite Covalen having consistently refused to engage with either the Workplace Relations Commission or Labour Court.
Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney, one of a number of politicians to speak with Covalen workers outside the Dáil on Friday, suggested the Minister needs to engage with the Covalen employees.
“The Minister must engage proactively with impacted Covalen workers, and match his approach to workers also facing redundancy who are directly employed by Meta. As a state, we cannot allow a system where workers for a contractor can see much worse conditions than those of the parent-company workers.”
“This is just the tip of the iceberg and workers must be empowered to weather and navigate the changes that AI will bring to our economy and workplaces.”
