THE first clashes in a fierce battle for the hearts and minds of Waterford Foods shareholders took place last night as farmer groups opposed to the new merger offer by Avonmore pledged strong opposition to the deal.
From Bunmahon to Ballymacarberry, and west across the Cork border to independent-minded Castlelyons, the lines were being drawn in a struggle where the outcome is by no means clearcut.
Preliminary discussions on the improved terms of the offer took place at meetings last night of the network of nine advisory committees in the Waterford catchment area.
The strongest pool of resistance is cent red around the ad hoc Waterford Farmers Action Group, about 400 strong, which was set up to oppose the initial "predatory" Avonmore approach.
Its driving force is the outspoken Waterford Co-Op director, Mr John Cashman, who is sharply critical of the role played by the present Waterford management. He attacked plans to postpone the impending Waterford Foods a.g.m. until after the holding of extraordinary general meetings of the co-op and plc boards to consider the deal.
"We can block this merger," he said. "And we're not blocking it just for the sake of doing so - we're blocking it for the sake of getting a decent deal for the people who built `Waterford.':
His group would not tolerate the e.g.m.s "being rammed through ahead of the a.g.m.", he added, because the a.g.m. held the prospect of wholesale changes in the Waterford boards. With revamped boards, and new, "proper" advice, they could hammer out a superior deal of a quality "totally undreamt of" by the farmer shareholders, he declared.
Mr Cashman accused the group's management of attempting to strip farmers of a substantial amount of their control in the co-op.
"They're taking our property - the co-op property and they're converting it into plc property and giving it back to us in shares in order to bribe us to hand over control," he said.
Another director, Mr Pat Murphy, county secretary of the IFA, admitted that he was not happy with the precipitative manner in which the hoard decision to recommend the deal had been arrived at on Monday night.
"Management insisted that we get a result before breaking up, which I didn't like," said Mr Murphy, who confirmed however that because of his own family and farm circumstances he had voted in favour of the offer.
The vote at Monday's late night meeting was 27 in favour, seven against. Sources said that some of the 27 had supported the offer with great reluctance, and some of those who voted against had first sought a postponement of the vote to allow further time for consideration.
The district officer of the ATGWU in Dungarvan, Mr Tony Mansfield, said last night that his union had reactivated its requests to the chief executives of Waterford and Avonmore for an early meeting on the implications of the proposed merger on jobs.
