They are angry that the long-running dispute has dragged on for so long that it forced their father and brother into a hunger strike to try and bring it to an end. They say that all parties should have sat down for discussions sooner, and not left th
e strikers walking up and down the picket line for close to six months.
Jim's brother Anthony, who himself worked for Northern Foods for 17 years, has blamed the fact that Green Isle is owned by a UK-based company as the reason the dispute has dragged on so long.
"We feel that Northern Foods have let Green Isle take the heat for the dispute. They are removed from the situation. They do not know Jim Wyse and, we feel, they do not care about him and they do not care about their own managers who have to face him. They have only started talks since Jim went on hunger strike."
Northern Foods and Green Isle maintain, however, that they want the dispute solved and were in fact the ones who initiated contact with the mediator.
Anthony says that he has been disappointed by the lack of meaningful interaction with Jim's family from both the company and the unions, despite phone calls and emails over the past week, but stressed that, while supportive of Jim's actions, they are not interested in the politics of the dispute. "We just want to get our brother out of the situation," he said.
Speaking to the Leinster Leader earlier this week, Anthony and Jim's daughter Rebecca agreed that the hunger striker felt he had no choice but to take his drastic action. The situation is especially worrying for the Wyse family as Jim's son Jamie, also a worker at Green Isle, is on the picket line with his father. Neither of the Wyses, or John Guinan, who will join the hunger strike today, Wednesday February 24, were part of the group originally fired by Green Isle last summer.
Jim broke the news of the hunger strike to his family on the evening of Sunday, February 14, three days before he began his action.
"When he explained what he had to do, we had no choice but to support him," said Anthony, who had the job of telling their brothers and sisters about the hunger strike.
Rebecca said that, when her father told her that the strike was about to escalate into a hunger strike, she was shocked, but understood the reasons for it.
"If they did not do something, they were just going to leave them there walking up and down," she said.
But she never thought that the strike would last over a week. "I thought that it was going to be resolved quickly," she said. "I get more angry every day."
She worries for her 58-year-old father's health, especially after he has already spent months walking up and down a picket line and is now sleeping in a small caravan on the site of the picket.
The effect of a lack of food on the human body differs from person to person. Some may be fine for three to four weeks, while others become seriously ill after two weeks.
"Every day (of this hunger strike] is a day lost, and possibly more damage being done to this man's health," said Anthony.
Anthony said that his brother, who was one of the initiators of the hunger strike action, took on himself the responsibility of being the first man to fast.
"Jim has always been a pillar in our family, if you are under pressure, Jim is the person to go to," he said, noting that his brother is a natural leader.
He said that the family's reaction to the news "very quickly turned to anger" at the unions and company that the dispute was allowed to descend into a hunger strike before action was taken.
Anthony also said that he is disappointed with the lack of a public statement from the company on the dispute and the hunger strike. He says that, when the non-binding Labour Court recommendation was issued before Christmas, that there should have been immediate talks between the union and the company on the issue.
The Wyse family is also worried about the Green Isle situation setting a precedent of hunger striking as part of an industrial action, something that belongs in times gone past.
They worry about the scenario of either strikers attempting a hunger strike to force their agendas before all other avenues have been exhausted, or, conversely, of companies being willing to leave workers on hunger strike outside their gates.
"Something has to be done on a political or legal level if a dispute goes on past, for example, two months," said Anthony.
The Wyse family, who are based around West Kildare area including Allenwood, Kilmeague, Prosperous and Clane, say that the hunger strike has brought them together and galvanised them into action in support of Jim.
His wife Anne has previously said that she considers it "crazy people have to resort to a hunger strike to get the company to listen to them".
Rebecca has started up a Facebook petition in support of her father, and says that messages of support have been flooding in from all over. Anthony is encouraging members of the public to contact the Northern Foods UK headquarters in Leeds to try and galvanise the company into action.
"We would also just like to say that we are overwhelmed by messages of support from everyone," said Anthony. "People's minds are changing the more they hear about the strike."
