Outokompu, the Finnish owner of Tara Mines, has been accused by trade union leaders of having "raped a precious national resource" and seeking to close its Navan operation without compensating staff.
The company is to meet SIPTU representatives at the plant this morning, but an emergency motion was passed unanimously by the 600 ICTU delegates yesterday which "condemns the company's failure to accept the Labour Court's recommendation" to make the plant viable.
Delegates called on the company "to behave responsibly by agreeing arrangements on the basis of the recommendation to secure jobs at Tara".
Moving the motion, the SIPTU regional secretary, Mr Jack O'Connor, said the unions accepted there were real problems in Tara Mines and the operation had lost $20 million last year.
"The ore quality is deteriorating, and accessing new resources will require an investment of $75 million. But the other side of the story is that it made a profit of $85 million over the last 10 years. There are extensive high-quality reserves, and the valuable Bula ore body is waiting to be acquired next door. Zinc prices fluctuate within defined cycles and will undoubtedly increase significantly again."
He said the company "plans to cut miners' earnings by 25 per cent, introduce Third World-type 10-hour shifts underground and various other severely detrimental changes. They know, of course, that they haven't the remotest chance of having them accepted."
Four years ago it had planned to cut costs by 15 per cent and increase production by 22 per cent, and the unions had responded imaginatively by promoting a partnership approach. "The real problem is the price of zinc, and it would have been far better if the company had acknowledged this. But no, they reverted to type, seeking to use the current situation to impose draconian conditions on pain of closure."
He said the unions had risen to the challenge by preparing an alternative plan involving severe pay cuts and increased working hours, yet the company response had been: "It wouldn't work."
He described the company's behaviour as "a challenge to our way of doing things in this country" and to the Government. A powerful multinational company had "raped a precious national resource, threatened to dismiss all of its 630 workers in disregard of the Labour Court, our institutions and our consensus framework.
"It will be interesting to see will the Minister or any of her colleagues in Government intervene, or will they just stand idly by and allow it to happen. And how long will IBEC continue to masquerade as social partners while simultaneously serving as the agents and advisers for this kind of thing."
The chairman of the craft group of unions at Tara, Mr Eamon Devoy, said the company was planning "to pull out of this country by the cheapest trick in the book, laying workers off". The workforce would not even be receiving statutory compensation as a result.