Workers end their sit-in protest

The Calcast factory in Campsie is to shut down

Workers have ended their sit-in protest at the Calcast car parts factory in Campsie, near Londonderry.

The dispute centred on redundancy terms for 90 workers at the plant. The French-owned firm announced on Monday that the factory was closing down.

The workers had objected to the offer of one month's statutory redundancy notice, rather than the expected three.

Under the new deal, they will still leave after 30 days but with an enhanced redundancy package.

A total of 102 people are employed at the plant. Ninety are to lose their jobs, while 12 will be offered jobs elsewhere.

Worker Thomas Fleming said he was happy with the deal.

"A lot of it is still ongoing but suffice to say that the membership are happy enough with what has been negotiated.

"We had a ballot on our proposals to the management, and the ballot returned very favourably in favour of acceptance," he said.

"We got more or less what we were looking for at the start, and they're happy that they got what they expected to get."

Philip Oakes of the trade union Unite said the length of statutory notice was "no longer an issue".

"There is a lot of detail still to be thrashed out, but suffice it to say we have enhanced the redundancy package," he said.

"We are still on the 30-day consultation, and I expect some employees may exit before that, but they are happy with what was reached during negotiations."