Tara Mines will close unless industrial relations problems are solved this month, management at the company has said. It called on unions to accept proposals aimed at increasing productivity when they meet today.
The dispute at the Co Meath site has its origins in a disagreement over implementation of an agreement brokered in July. This narrowly averted closure of the mines.
Under the agreement the miners agreed to a new shift system and increases in productivity in exchange for bonuses. Management and miners had different interpretations of the agreement, however. Management took it that the agreed 23 per cent productivity increases applied across all shifts whereas the miners understood it to apply overall and to take account of work done on the extra shift the new system had introduced.
Another confrontation flared up in November as a result, and Mr Brian Fitzgerald, the chairman of Meath County Council, intervened to produce a new set of proposals. The company has said it will accept these, with the proviso that it be allowed to use Canadian contract labourers in the short term to boost productivity.
Mr Charlie Brown, managing director, said that under the new proposals the miners had got their way on the shifts and productivity issue but SIPTU negotiators had indicated they expected there would be problems with this.
Mr Brown said that "our parent company has totally run out of patience at this stage" and that the mine would need to be profitable soon to secure its future. He urged workers to accept the proposals, saying "they are very positive when you look at the whole issue. I would say to the workers: `give it a try'. Once people start working to arrangements like these they won't want to go back."
A SIPTU spokesman declined to comment.