Workers at the two Guinness Ireland plants in Dundalk have said they will fight to save both plants and 290 jobs which are about to be lost.
As they emerged yesterday from a two and a half hour meeting called by senior management who had travelled from Dublin, the workers were grim. Some were on holidays when they were called to the mass gathering.
Anger and upset were the predominant expressions afterwards along with a determination to seek to prevent the closure of the packaging plant and the down grading of the brewing facility just half a mile away.
In all some 290 of the 350 jobs will be lost by the end of June next year, 90 of them in the brewery. Guinness wants to close the packaging plant, where 200 are employed, by the end of September.
The decision marks not just the end of a bottling plant in a border town, but the end of Guinness Ireland sourcing its packaging in the Republic.
Instead the company is to centralise its packaging in Ireland in Belfast and in Runcorn near Liverpool.
The impact on the town as well as the workforce was a major concern of the employees as they began to articulate their feelings.
"We are devastated for the employees and the town and the community. As a trade union group and employees we are not accepting the company's decision. We are going to do everything, and explore all avenues, to rescue this site," said SIPTU shop steward Mr Jimmy Neary.
Workers have been fearful in recent weeks that the company, as part of a review of its operations, would opt to close the Dundalk packaging facility.
The lack of formal negotiations combined with growing speculation and rumours left the workers feeling they had been kept in the dark despite their many years of service.
Brewing has taken place in Dundalk since 1683 and in some cases there are more than one generation of individual families effected by yesterday's announcement.
The manner in which the company carried out its review and reached a decision has left many workers bitter.
Now he and other workers want a chance to see it they can make the plant work. They were particularly angry that yesterday's announcement was made just a fortnight after new 12-hour shifts and agreements on multi-skilling came into effect.
Workers have asked to see company figures so they can examine ways of reducing costs and protecting jobs.
The announcement was described as "devastating to the town of Dundalk and its hinterland", by branch secretary of the Guinness Staff Union, Mr Nicholas McCourt.
Dundalk based Minister for Social Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, said the decision, was "a devastating blow to the people involved and the area generally". Dundalk Chamber of Commerce President Mr Aidan Donnelly said the move was particularly disappointing after the recent closure of Panasonic.
