SIPTU shop stewards at Tara Mines are to hold an emergency meeting today following the miners' rejection of a plan to restore the company's competitiveness. The plant, which employs 600, could close within weeks if the current dispute is not resolved.
Other unions accepted the plan, which was recommended by management and union negotiators at Tara. They are expected to seek Irish Congress of Trade Unions intervention to persuade the miners and general workers to reconsider their position.
Yesterday, the company told union representatives on the Joint Steering Committee which formulated the rescue plan that it would introduce its own cost-cutting measures from February 1st. Staff would be notified of their new rosters tomorrow.
The new proposals aim to increase productivity by 25 per cent and cut costs by £3 per tonne. If miners do not meet new production targets, they could lose between £10 and £14 an hour in bonus payments, or £400 a week. Under the rejected joint proposals there would have been similar productivity increases and no loss in overall earnings.
Tara Mines is the largest employer in the north-east and provides some of the highest rates of pay. Miners can earn up to £50,000 a year and the average wage is £30,000. However, some workers earn less than £20,000 and no one argues that the miners do not have a difficult job.
The human resource manager, Mr Colm Connachy, said yesterday the company was disappointed that the joint proposals had been rejected. He said the changes in working conditions were not drastic and it would have required workers "working smarter, not harder".
He said the company had deferred the introduction of new rosters and methods of working for a year. "We can no longer sit idly by. We have lost a lot of time with what has happened."
He said there was over 10 years of good employment in the mine but only if productivity rose and costs were reduced. "The future lies in change. Without it, we have no future."
Last night, SIPTU's Navan branch secretary, Mr Christy McQuillan, said the union was disappointed the company had not given it more time to reflect on the situation. "We are taking the earliest opportunity to bring our shop stewards together, tomorrow afternoon, to consider the situation."
The union's regional secretary, Mr Jack O'Connor, said "the situation is so serious as to require the commitment of all involved to find a solution acceptable to both sides". He hoped the shop stewards would be able to formulate an initiative at today's meeting and called on the company to create a breathing space in which the dispute could be resolved.