The future of 163 jobs at a Limerick plant hung in the balance last night following a breakdown in talks between management and union representatives.
Management at Atlas Aluminium Ltd warned striking staff yesterday that if they did not get back to work soon their jobs would be gone.
A strike over pay and claims that foreign workers were being treated unfairly is now in its second week at the Dock Road plant.
Management has said the company is unable to pay the latest national wage agreement, and an independent assessor appointed by the Labour Court upheld this, according to a company spokesman.
Several of Atlas's main customers have warned the company that unless the dispute is resolved they will have to move their business.
If that happens, the company, which provides over 200,000 parts for the assembly lines of some of the world's major multinationals, including Nissan and Renault, will no longer be commercially viable.
In a statement issued last night, the company said its customers could not accept a "break in supply", and warned that the strike was putting 163 jobs at risk.
"As Siptu was made aware late last week, several of Atlas's main customers warned the company that unless the dispute was resolved immediately they would have to remove their business as they could not accept a break in supply.
"Despite the company's continued reiteration of this point, Siptu is continuing to put at risk 163 jobs at Atlas with this continuation of a strike action that is unjust and flies in the face of the Labour Court assessor's ruling," the statement said.
According to Siptu spokeswoman Karen O'Loughlin, there was a good chance that there would be no resolution to the dispute and the company would close.
"If they can't pay people to work here, then they really don't have a business that's viable," Ms O'Loughlin said.
Employees said yesterday they would continue their 24-hour picket until "hell freezes over" and until management pays them over €250,000, which they claim they are owed in back payments.
Atlas Aluminium has denied this, and has stated that "not one single employee is due outstanding wage payments".
The company has also rejected claims of unfair treatment of foreign employees, insisting that all staff are treated equally.
Established in 1980, Atlas Aluminium is an Irish export-orientated engineering company which contributes in excess of €10 million to the local economy in Limerick annually.