Some 500 staff at the Thermo King refrigeration plant in Galway will be put on a four-day week for two months from May. The company has blamed the continuing economic situation in Russia for the move.
A Thermo King spokesman said market demand for trailer refrigeration units there has declined. "It is a temporary issue, and demand is expected to pick up again in the third quarter of this year."
The spokesman said Thermo King management had decided that putting staff on the four-day week would be the most effective way of managing the problem. Around 650 staff are employed in Galway, of which about 490 will be affected by the short-time working.
Thermo King employs 1,000 people in Ireland and is a world leader in manufacturing transport temperature control systems.
It was bought by Ingersoll Rand in 1997 as part of a worldwide buyout which was valued at $2.56 billion (£1.82 billion). It also employs 290 people at a manufacturing plant in Blanchardstown, Dublin, and 30 in Shannon where it has a services operation. These plants are unaffected.
The Irish operations serve Europe, the Middle East and the African markets. The spokesman said the four-day week option would allow the facility "to respond more effectively when the business does pick up later in the year". It is envisaged the four-day week will operate from May 17th until mid-July.
Sources said staff had been given an option of taking leave days instead during the period. This would apply to around half the production staff affected.
But a spokesman for the Amalgamated and Electrical Engineering Union, which represents workers at the Galway plant, said whether or how this would work was unclear. He said he was waiting for a briefing from shop stewards, who were told of the fourday week plan yesterday morning, before commenting further.
It is understood that staff representatives were given some hint of the four-day week last week. The company spokesman said introducing it was "an effort to manage the flattening of the market".
Thermo King was established in Galway in 1976 and has expanded significantly since. It opened a new research and development centre in Galway in 1997. The expansion represents a £2 million investment.
The centre is linked by satellite to the company's headquarters in Minneapolis. It develops and tests products and provides support for other Thermo King plants. It also offers technical support to the company's dealer network, in English, French, German, Dutch and Spanish. Thermo King sells to 140 countries worldwide.
