Workers at the Irish Glass Bottle plant in Dublin learned yesterday that the Ardagh management had pulled out of a Labour Court agreement which would settle their bitter three-week strike over redundancy payments. The employees had been about to vote on the court's proposal when they heard the news.
The court had recommended that a trust be set up which would administer a "special account" for the sole benefit of employees. Monies for the settlement of the dispute would be paid into this account. The trustees of the fund, it said, would comprise one nominee each of the ICTU and of the company, along with aagreed chairman.
But a fax from the Ardagh group management, received by SIPTU branch secretary Mr Gerry Lynch two hours before workers were to vote on the deal, challenged the Labour Court's interpretation of how the fund should be used. What appeared in the court's written memorandum was not what they agreed, the company said. It asked the union to consider some changes.
The company said that part of an estimated €12 million to be realised by the sale of assets had to be used for the winding-down of the company and for the repayment of loans. This was in sharp contrast to the Labour Court's stipulation that the fund would be for the sole use of the 340 redundant employees.
Given the position of the parties on the court's previous recommendation, the court's memorandum said that it could "not find a basis on which a final resolution of the dispute" could be achieved.
It recommended, however, that some chronic aspects of the dispute needed to be addressed: "The value of certain stock, the proceeds of which will be required to finance any ultimate settlement of the dispute, will diminish significantly unless they are now realised."
Unions and their members, said the Labour Court, should co-operate to ensure the removal of moulds from the plant. And they should co-operate with the realisation of the cash value of the net working capital, to include the sale and delivery of all realisable stocks. This "should be achieved within a period not exceeding three months", during which it would be "incumbent on all parties to minimise any further additional costs".
The proceeds of the sale (estimated at around €12 million by Ardagh), minus the cost of statutory redundancy already paid, the court said, should be held in the special account: "It is understood that the company will have to borrow €500,000 from the bank to achieve this, to offset the loss from the glass furnace closure, on a basis to be determined."
The funds should be used in the ultimate settlement of the dispute, the court recommended, noting that "the unions' position is that the full terms of LRC17169 must be met, and that the fund will be used as a contribution to the final settlement".
This was a reference to its previous recommendation that the workers be paid five weeks per year of service plus statutory entitlements. Ardagh, however, disagreed with this earlier recommendation and pleaded that the company could not afford to pay the €25 million which it would entail.
The latest proposal from the Labour Court stopped short of presenting itself as a "final solution". It was "without prejudice" to the respective positions of each side on the substantive issue, its memo said. A city-centre protest scheduled by workers for tomorrow is to go ahead, when a letter will be handed in to the Tánaiste's office.