Morale at Waterford Crystal is at its lowest ebb since the industrial relations crisis which almost led to its closure in the late 1980s, workers at the company claimed last night.

Staff who spoke to The Irish Times, however, stressed that there would be no going back to the picket lines in response to the company's plan to introduce a three-day week because of falling demand for its products.

"There's no way I'll be standing outside that gate again. Those days are gone," said a general operative who has worked at the Waterford city plant for close to 20 years.

He and a colleague, who asked not to be named, said staff had been aware for several months that the slowdown in the US economy was having a serious impact on business. A number of glass blowers and other craft workers had been assigned to general operative duties since June because of a cutback in production, they said.

Despite market conditions, the company had made "huge profits" in the first six months of this year, said another general operative who has worked at the plant for almost 30 years. "This short-time working is all about minding their profits. They don't care about the staff," he claimed.

Workers who attended meetings with management yesterday were given an overview of the company's economic situation, but were not told to what extent sections would be affected by the three-day week. Further union-management talks will be held on that issue.

Workers said the timing of the announcement was particularly hard as Christmas was coming. "I know people think 'oh Waterford Crystal, £700 (€889) a week', but for general operatives the basic pay is from £190 a week at the bottom of the scale to £235 at the top. There are bonuses of up to £80 a week but it's still hard to get by on those kind of wages. A lot of the lads have mortgages and this will hit them very hard."