Workers at the Waterford Crystal plant in Dungarvan, which is to close with the loss of almost 400 jobs, have threatened to picket the company's remaining plant in Waterford city in pursuit of a favourable redundancy deal.
Unions and management at the troubled crystalware company meet today to discuss the redundancy package for the Dungarvan workers and a further 95 staff in the flagship plant at Kilbarry, Waterford, who are also losing their jobs.
The Irish job cuts are part of a wider rationalisation programme announced by parent company Waterford Wedgwood yesterday, which will see the company's workforce worldwide reduced by 1,800.
Angry Dungarvan workers, told the news at a meeting in a local hotel yesterday, blamed management for the closure of the plant and vowed to fight for a substantial payoff.
Many of those who emerged from the stormy two-hour meeting accused the company of lying about its intentions for Dungarvan, whose future has been the subject of intense speculation over the past year. Staff said that, until yesterday, they believed Waterford was planning to make a multi-million euro investment in a new furnace at the plant to guarantee its continued future.
Over 5 per cent of Dungarvan's population worked in the glass plant and its closure will mean an annual loss of €10 million to the town in wages, according to the local chamber of commerce.
ATGWU branch secretary Walter Cullen said workers were "distraught and upset" at the news. He insisted there had been no negotiations on the size of the redundancy package and no details had been agreed.
Workers emerging from the meeting said managers had offered six weeks' pay per year of service, but this would be capped at 16 years of service. This is unlikely to prove acceptable as many of the staff have worked at the plant for over 20 years.
In its official statement, Waterford Wedgwood said the worldwide restructuring package would cost €90 million, to be funded by a €100 million rights issue.
With profits tumbling in recent years from poor sales in the US and a weak dollar, the company said the restructuring programme was designed to remove "excess capacity", improve manufacturing efficiency and integrate the Wedgwood division with the recently-acquired china-maker, Royal Doulton.
The Dungarvan plant will close at the end of summer and its manufacturing capacity will be transferred to the Waterford city plant. Up to 25 per cent of Waterford production will be outsourced to Germany and other European states, a spokesman said.
Besides the 485 Irish job losses, 160 jobs will go at Rosenthal in Germany, 200 in the wider Waterford Crystal group and 950, most of them in Britain, in Wedgwood and Royal Doulton.
The chairman of Waterford Wedgwood, Sir Anthony O'Reilly, said he regretted the job losses, but claimed they were vital to ensure the long-term prosperity of "this historic company and its key heritage plants" in Ireland, Britain and Germany, in the face of low-cost competition from the Far East and elsewhere.
"The task is clear but the challenge is great: we must ensure that our cost base matches revenue levels, so that the company is returned to sustained profitability.
"I am determined that Waterford Wedgwood will become the low-cost operator in its sector," he said.
