THE DECISION by Waterford Wedgwood to seek 280 redundancies at its Waterford Crystal subsidiary, which would reduce the numbers working at the plant in Waterford city to approximately 200, was yesterday greeted with dismay and anger by workers.
Management at the plant met workers yesterday morning and informed them of the plan to seek a further 280 redundancies on top of the 490 redundancies sought last year. The company later issued a statement confirming the jobs cuts.
The company told employees it intended to maintain production in Waterford "making a range of prestige hand-crafted crystal products, its tourist trail and its gallery operation", while also remaining "committed to the retention of its intellectual property in Ireland".
The Irish Times understands that the plan will involve the retention of about 200 jobs in total at the Kilbarry plant, with some 70 jobs being retained in production, a further 55 in the visitor centre and a further 70 jobs in administration and maintenance.
Waterford Crystal chief executive John Foley said in a statement issued immediately after the meeting with workers that the company regretted the "necessity of ending large-scale manufacturing in Waterford, but we reaffirm our commitment to the city".
"We will retain highly skilled workers, our tourist trail, as well as our gallery staff, who together service one of Ireland's premier visitor attractions. The company is proud of its heritage. The city of Waterford remains its home," said Mr Foley.
Waterford Crystal Group chief financial officer Anthony Jones said in the same statement that it became clear during the Waterford Wedgwood group-wide review of operations that "maintaining manufacturing operations in Ireland at their current level is not feasible".
"Along with many other companies, we are, therefore, forced to find alternative means of production abroad. We recognise that Waterford is critical to the DNA of our brand and we will retain our visitor centre and some prestigious manufacturing at Kilbarry."
Last May the Government refused to provide guarantees on up to €39 million in loans for the loss-making business which has seen production transferred in recent years from the Waterford plant to lower-cost locations in eastern Europe.
Waterford Wedgwood had announced in November 2007 that with losses totalling €260 million in the two years up to March 2007 it was cutting 490 jobs at the Kilbarry plant. Some 280 of these redundancies have already taken place, with a further 210 still to come.
Walter Cullen, regional organiser with Unite union, which represents the manufacturing workers at the plant, said yesterday that workers were angry at the decision and they would be fighting to retain the maximum number of jobs at the plant.
Mr Cullen, who held two meetings with workers last night, said the union had sought a meeting with management to discuss possible options to help save jobs but the company had gone ahead and announced its redundancy programme without any consultation.
The company was seeking the redundancies on a phased basis over the next 14 months, but the union would be fighting to maximise jobs, secure good redundancy terms and safeguard pension entitlements.
Mr Cullen said the union would also be seeking a meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen to try and save the jobs. "If the Government is in a position to mortgage the country to bail out the banks, they should be able to offer support to protect the jobs here."
Local Independent Waterford City councillor John Halligan said the closure would be a devastating blow not just to the workers but the entire local economy of Waterford as many companies were providing services to Waterford Crystal.
Mr Halligan said the plant had a reputation as having good terms and conditions and staff working there took great pride in their work.
REACTION: "We never thought it would come to this"
Many of the workers leaving the plant via the Ashe Road entrance at noon yesterday were too upset to talk to the media but those who did share their feelings were palpably angry at what they believe was a failure by management to save the plant.
Francis Carey, who has worked at the plant for 38 years, said that workers at the meeting with management "had thrown all the hard questions at management about outsourcing production and management weren't capable of answering any of them". "The mood is one of disappointment . . . the company have a great range of products but the big debate is about margins - there are serious margins and a lot of the workers think we are being codded as regards the margins." Bob Saunders from Rossbercon in New Ross, Co Wexford, was equally despondent as he was left to ponder what the future holds for him at the age of 52, having spent the past 36 years working at the glass factory.
"I remember going to a meeting maybe 20 years ago and we had maybe 1,100 workers at that stage and it's been dribs and drabs ever since and now we're in serious times. There's not much future for me now at 52 years of age. Where am I going to a get a job at that age?"
"We never thought it would come to this - top management told us four or five months ago that 400 to 500 jobs were going to be kept in Waterford but they knew at that stage the jobs were going - as far as we're concerned this was being planned for the last two or three years."
