A fresh dispute is looming at Tara Mines because the Finnish owner, Outokompu Ltd, has made arrangements to fly in Canadian miners to begin exploiting a new ore-body which has been discovered. The new ore-body is larger than existing reserves and is expected to extend the life of the mine by several years.
However, the decision to introduce foreign labour could lead to a mass walkout by Irish miners. The first contingent of Canadian miners is understood to have already arrived in Ireland. They are due to start work on Monday at 8 a.m. Trade union sources say most of the 500 workers will leave the plant if this happens.
The Canadians are being brought in because productivity at the mine has fallen significantly in recent weeks and absenteeism has risen. This follows a serious disagreement between SIPTU and Tara Mines management on the implementation of the "Newgrange Agreement", which narrowly averted the closure of the mine last July.
Under this agreement, the miners accepted the need to increase productivity by 23 per cent and reduce costs by 15 per cent. In return for anticipated loss of earnings, miners were paid between £6,200 and £20,000 tax free. The 1997 Finance Act was amended in order to facilitate this. About £5 million was paid out in compensation to the workers affected.
In return, the miners accepted a number of redundancies and cuts of between £6,000 and £8,000 a year in earnings. They also agreed to switch from a 14-shift to a 15-shift system and to producing 23 per cent more in order to qualify for production bonuses.
However the Newgrange Agreement (named after the hotel in Navan where talks to avert the closure took place last July) was extremely technical. It is understood that the company interpreted the agreement to mean that miners would produce 23 per cent more on each of the 15 shifts, whereas the workers understood that the extra shift being worked would be taken into account when calculating if they had met the 23 per cent extra target over a fortnightly period.
On Wednesday the chairman of Meath County Council, Mr Brian Fitzgerald, who is also a SIPTU official, met both sides to try and resolve the problem. He chaired the conciliation in July.
Tara management and SIPTU negotiators were on standby last night to meet Mr Fitzgerald again if required.