Protest greets Ardagh a.g.m.

Glass container manufacturer Ardagh's a.g.m. took place yesterday in the face of protests by former workers of its subsidiary, the Irish Glass Bottle Company, who were angry at the redundancy package offered by the company.

About 150 people marched from the plant in Dublin's Ringsend to the Berkeley Court hotel in Ballsbridge where the a.g.m. was taking place, to protest at the redundancy package given when the plant closed last month with the loss of over 360 jobs.

Earlier this year, the Labour Court recommended that the company should pay five weeks redundancy for every year worked. The company's final redundancy package offer was just under two weeks plus statutory entitlements.

At the a.g.m., the company announced a trading profit of €26.2 million for 2001, down by €11.3 million from the previous year. Profits after tax for the year were €2.44 million. Turnover for the year was also down by 4.8 per cent. The company blamed unfavourable exchange rates and reduced turnover at Irish Glass for the reduction in profits.

Turnover and margins in Ireland declined in 2001 caused by a reduction in selling prices and an increase in costs.

The British operation, Rockware, was described as "satisfactory for 2001 considering the difficult market conditions".

Speaking at the a.g.m., Mr Paul Coulson, chairman of the board of directors, expressed regret that the Ringsend plant had to be closed.

He said the company did "everything in our power" to keep the plant operational but the unwillingness of customers to commit to sufficient volumes meant that it could not remain viable.

About 30 former Irish Glass workers who are also shareholders in Ardagh attended the meeting.They expressed anger at the decision to close the plant and questioned Ardagh's inability to pay five weeks redundancy.