ONE OF the last remaining links between this country and Waterford Crystal is set to be severed next month after 170 workers at the company’s base were served with 30 days’ notice yesterday.
The notice means that the 170 sales, administrative and other staff who have been working at the former crystal manufacturing facility in Kilbarry, Waterford, since US investor KPS Capital took over the Waterford Wedgwood group in March will lose their jobs.
They were kept on as part of a six-month transitional arrangement agreed when KPS took over most of the group’s assets in March. The banks placed its parent, Waterford Wedgwood, in receivership early last January.
At the time, the Irish company employed 408 staff in Waterford. KPS kept 170 on to handle sales, administration and to run the factory’s visitor centre.
A spokesman for trade union Unite, which represents the staff, confirmed that the workers had been given their notice yesterday. He added that it was a “sad day for the area and for Ireland”, as it means the prospect of crystal manufacturing restarting is less likely.
Senior Unite shop steward Tony Kelly said workers received the letters yesterday and on Tuesday.
“We would have known about this for a while now; it was laid out in the transitional services agreement. The fact that we knew about it doesn’t make this any easier – we were hoping that someone would have stepped in. It’s the end of the road in terms of people working at Kilbarry.”
The deal between receiver, David Carson of Deloitte, included Waterford Crystal’s brand and intellectual property, but not the Kilbarry manufacturing plant.
The US group intends to continue manufacturing Waterford Crystal through licensed sub-contractors, mainly in eastern European countries where labour and other costs are lower than here. KPS said at the time that if manufacturing were to restart at Kilbarry, it would be prepared to buy its crystal product, if their price matches those it can get in competing countries.
Since then, the furnace, the central element of the factory, has been turned off, while the plant itself has been decommissioned and much of the machinery sent to eastern Europe. Restarting the furnace and recommissioning the plant would cost millions.
A consortium is pressing ahead with plans to set up a small manufacturing plant in Waterford city next year to produce crystal. This was laid out in the plan adopted by Unite members in March, when they voted to back the KPS takeover.
However, Unite shop steward Tony Kellysaid that this operation would be “Mickey Mouse” compared to previous operations at the plant.
Mr Carson was forced to shut down manufacturing in Waterford in February after he ran out of cash needed to maintain the operation. He had hoped to keep it as a going concern. The shutdown prompted a seven-week sit-in at the visitors’ centre.